Pre_GI: SWBIT SVG BLASTP

Query: NC_017044:80384 Rickettsia parkeri str. Portsmouth chromosome, complete genome

Lineage: Rickettsia parkeri; Rickettsia; Rickettsiaceae; Rickettsiales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria

General Information: Animal pathogen in Mammalia (intracellular obligate). Rickettsiae are obligate intracellular Gram-negative bacteria mostly found in arthropods, some of which cause mild to severe diseases in humans. Rickettsia parkeri, a member of the spotted fever group Rickettsia (SFGR), was first isolated from the Gulf Coast tick, Amblyomma maculatum, in 1937. In 2004, the first confirmed human infection with R. parkeri was reported in a 40-year-old man from the Tidewater area of coastal Virginia. The agent was isolated in cell culture from an eschar biopsy specimen and designated the Portsmouth strain; recently, the first recognized case of tick bite-associated human infection was described.

Subject: NC_005295:1067421 Ehrlichia ruminantium str. Welgevonden, complete genome

Lineage: Ehrlichia ruminantium; Ehrlichia; Anaplasmataceae; Rickettsiales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria

General Information: This strain was isolated in mice from an infected tick. Obligate intracellular bacterium and causative agent of heartwater. This organism causes heartwater, a disease with a high mortality rate that affects both wild and domesticated ruminants in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of the Caribbean. The name heartwater refers to the hydropericardium (excessive fluid in the sac surrounding the heart) commonly found associated with infection. This organism is found in membrane-bound vacuoles in endothelial cells and neutrophils and is an obligate intracellular parasite.