Query: NC_020134:845164 Clostridium stercorarium subsp. stercorarium DSM 8532, complete
Lineage: Clostridium stercorarium; Clostridium; unclassified Ruminococcaceae; Clostridiales; Firmicutes; Bacteria
General Information: Lignocellulosic biomass has great potential as an abundant and renewable source of fermentable sugars through enzymic saccharification. Clostridium stercorarium is a catabolically versatile bacterium producing a wide range of hydrolases for degradation of biomass. Together with Clostridium thermocellum, Clostridium aldrichii and other cellulose degraders, it forms group I of the clostridia. It is moderately thermophilic, with an optimum growth temperature of 65 degrees C, and has repeatedly been isolated from self-heated compost. The two-component cellulase system of C. stercorarium has been investigated thoroughly. Due to its ability to utilize the various polysaccharides present in biomass it is especially suited for the fermentation of hemicellulose to organic solvents. Some isolates have been used in Japan in a single-step ethanol-fermenting pilot-process with lignocellulosic biomass as substrate.
Subject: NC_005810:3493607 Yersinia pestis biovar Microtus str. 91001, complete genome
Lineage: Yersinia pestis; Yersinia; Enterobacteriaceae; Enterobacteriales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria
General Information: Causative agent of plague. Specific virulence factors are encoded within pathogenicity islands (PAIs) that are required for the invasive phenotype associated with Yersinia infections. One key virulence plasmid contained by the three human-specific pathogens is pCD1/pYv, which encodes a type III secretion system for the delivery of virulence proteins that contribute to internalization into the host cell. It is the causative agent of plague (bubonic and pulmonary) a devastating disease which has killed millions worldwide. The organism can be transmitted from rats to humans through the bite of an infected flea or from human-to-human through the air during widespread infection. Yersinia pestis is an extremely pathogenic organism that requires very few numbers in order to cause disease, and is often lethal if left untreated. The organism is enteroinvasive, and can survive and propagate in macrophages prior to spreading systemically throughout the host. Yersinia pestis consists of three biotypes or serovars, Antiqua, Mediavalis, and Orientalis, that are associated with three major pandemics throughout human history. pMT1 encodes a protein, murine toxin, that aids rat-to-human transmission by enhancing survival of the organism in the flea midgut. Yersinia pestis also contains a PAI on the chromosome that is similar to the SPI-2 PAI from Salmonella that allows intracellular survival in the organism.