Pre_GI: SWBIT SVG BLASTP

Query: NC_017062:812133 Rickettsia typhi str. B9991CWPP chromosome, complete genome

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

General Information: This genus, like other Rickettsial organisms such as Neorickettsia and Anaplasma, is composed of obligate intracellular pathogens. The latter is composed of two organisms, Rickettsia prowazekii and Rickettsia typhi. The bacteria are transmitted via an insect, usually a tick, to a host organism, in this case humans, where they target endothelial cells and sometimes macrophages. They attach via an adhesin, rickettsial outer membrane protein A, and are internalized where they persist as cytoplasmically free organisms. Transovarial transmission (from mother to offspring) occurs in the invertebrate host. This organism causes murine typhus and is an obligate intracellular pathogen that infects both the flea vector and hosts such as human, rat, and mouse. R. prowazekii, and genomic comparisons demonstrate colinearity and similarity to the genome of that organism except for two independent inversions near the origin and terminus. In the flea vector, the bacterium penetrates the gut epithelial barrier and is found in the feces which become infective.

Subject: NC_012225:2421783 Brachyspira hyodysenteriae WA1, complete genome

Lineage: Brachyspira hyodysenteriae; Brachyspira; Brachyspiraceae; Spirochaetales; Spirochaetes; Bacteria

General Information: Brachyspira hyodysenteriae is the causative agent of swine dysentery, which is a severe mucohemorrhagic diarrheal disease of pigs that has economic significance for pork-producing countries. The bacterium can survive for several weeks in cold moist conditions but not under warm dry conditions. It spreads slowly, building up in numbers as the dose rate of the causal agent builds up in the environment. Pigs that recover develop a low immunity and rarely suffer from the disease again. It can be spread by other organisms (flies, mice, birds and dogs) or external mechanical factors; its main habitat is the porcine cecum and colon. It is chemotactically attracted to mucin which it penetrates with a corkscrew-like motility.