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Reference GenomesThe ERIC BRC project is funded to cover five enterobacterial pathogens: diarrheagenic Escherichia coli, Shigella spp., Salmonella spp., Yersinia enterocolitica, and Yersinia pestis. But there are a number of closely related organisms not included on the NIAID list of Category A-C priority pathogens which are very useful for comparative purposes. To make them readily available to our users read-only versions of these genomes are mirrored daily from the University of Wisconsin's version of ASAP. Mirrored data is indicated by the phrase "This is Read-Only data mirrored from another location" appearing in the page header below the selected genome, version, or experiment set. For Escherichia coli the useful reference strains include both commensal strains (including the model-organism lab strain E. coli K-12) and non-diarrheagenic pathogens (also called extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli, or ExPEC). The latter group cause an impressive array of diseases, including urinary-tract infections, peritonitis, endocarditis, and meningitis. E. coli is also an animal pathogen, and in addition to the impact on the food supply, the possibility of those strains being implicated in human disease cannot be ruled out. For example, an avian pathogenic E. coli (APEC) strain appears closely related to characterized ExPEC strains. Yersinia pseudotuberculosis (a Yersinia species not supported with BRC funding) is a primary pathogen of wild and domestic animals. In humans, Y. pseudotuberculosis infections are not frequent, although outbreaks associated with consumption of water or food supplies contaminated with animal feces have been reported. Other Yersinia species lack classical virulence factors and are generally considered nonpathogenic to humans, but some have been found to possess novel virulence mechanisms, and some of them have been associated with human disease. In addition to its interest as an enteropathogen in its own right, Y. pseudotuberculosis is now known to be the immediate ancestor of Yersinia pestis, with the divergence as recent as 1.5 to 20 thousand years ago. While extensive research has been conducted on Y. pestis, Y. pseudotuberculosis, and Y. enterocolitica, the remaining 8 currently recognized Yersinia species (Y. frederiksenii, Y. intermedia, Y. kristensenii, Y. bercovieri, Y. mollaretii, Y. rohdei, Y. ruckeri, and Y. aldovae -- once collectively called "Y. enterocolitica-like" or atypical Y. enterocolitica strains) have been only moderately studied. They had previously not been clearly recognized as human pathogens, but at least some of them can on rare occasion cause enterocolitis in humans, and draft sequences are available for four strains. The Enterobacteriaceae also include a number of insect- and plant-associated organisms, both pathogens and commensals/epiphytes. Mechanisms of host-microbe interaction are often shared among the species associated with humans, animals, and plants, making them all useful reference genomes.
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