Pre_GI: SWBIT SVG BLASTP

Query: NC_017297:33519 Clostridium botulinum F str. 230613 chromosome, complete genome

Lineage: Clostridium botulinum; Clostridium; Clostridiaceae; Clostridiales; Firmicutes; Bacteria

General Information: This organism produces one of the most potent and deadly neurotoxins known, a botulinum toxin that prevents the release of acetylcholine at the neuromuscular junction, thereby inhibiting muscle contraction and causing paralysis. In most cases the diseased person dies of asphyxiation as a result of paralysis of chest muscles involved in breathing. The spores are heat-resistant and can survive in inadequately heated, prepared, or processed foods. Spores germinate under favorable conditions (anaerobiosis and substrate-rich environment) and bacteria start propagating very rapidly, producing the toxin.Botulinum toxin, and C. botulinum cells, has been found in a wide variety of foods, including canned ones. Almost any food that has a high pH (above 4.6) can support growth of the bacterium. Honey is the most common vehicle for infection in infants. Food poisoning through C. botulinum is the most frequent type of infection caused by this bacterium. The wound botulism that occurs when C. botulinum infects an individual via an open wound is much rarer and is very similar to tetanus disease. There are several types of botulinum toxin known (type A through type F), all of them being neurotoxic polypeptides. The most common and widely distributed are strains and serovars of C. botulinum that produce type A toxin.

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Subject: NC_014802:27857 Campylobacter jejuni subsp. jejuni ICDCCJ07001 chromosome, complete

Lineage: Campylobacter jejuni; Campylobacter; Campylobacteraceae; Campylobacterales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria

General Information: Gram-negative, microaerophilic, flagellate, spiral bacterium, Campylobacter species are the leading cause of food-borne gastroenteritis in developed countries. Infection with C. jejuni is the most frequent antecedent to a form of neuromuscular paralysis known as Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS). Strain ICDCCJ07001 was isolated following a GBS outbreak in Shuangyang, a town in northern China in 2007, from a severely affected 15 year-old girl GBS patient who had been on a ventilator for 180 days. Her clinical symptoms were motor axonal neuropathy. This organism is the leading cause of bacterial food poisoning (campylobacteriosis) in the world, and is more prevalent than Salmonella enteritis (salmonellosis). Found throughout nature, it can colonize the intestines of both mammals and birds, and transmission to humans occurs via contaminated food products. This organism can invade the epithelial layer by first attaching to epithelial cells, then penetrating through them. Systemic infections can also occur causing more severe illnesses.