Query: NC_018720:1611213 Bifidobacterium asteroides PRL2011 chromosome, complete genome
Lineage: Bifidobacterium asteroides; Bifidobacterium; Bifidobacteriaceae; Bifidobacteriales; Actinobacteria; Bacteria
General Information: Bifidobacterium asteroides (strain PRL2011) is an aerobic, Gram-positive bacterium isolated from the hindgut of Apis mellifera var. ligustica, commonly known as the honey bee.
Subject: NC_011896:2571232 Mycobacterium leprae Br4923, complete genome
Lineage: Mycobacterium leprae; Mycobacterium; Mycobacteriaceae; Actinomycetales; Actinobacteria; Bacteria
General Information: This strain was isolated from a human skin biopsy in Brazil, and passaged in nude mice and armadillos. The bacterium is a close relative of M. tuberculosis. However, compared to the latter, the genome of M. leprae is smaller due to reductive genome evolution, with many important metabolic activities including siderophore production, part of the oxidative chain, most of the microaerophilic and anaerobic respiratory chains, and numerous catabolic systems and their regulatory circuits eliminated due to extensive recombination events between dispersed repetitive sequences. It is evident that this species has undergone massive genome reduction over time as a result of its parasitic nature, discarding more than half its genes and rendering it the most striking example of genome reduction in a microbial pathogen.