Lactobacillus jensenii

Lactobacillus jensenii. From Osel: The Bacterio-Therapeutics Company.

Classification

Higher order taxa

Bacteria; Firmicutes; Bacilli; Lactobacillales; Lactobacillaceae; Lactobacillus

Genus

Lactobacillus jensenii

NCBI: Taxonomy

Description and significance

Describe the appearance, habitat, etc. of the organism, and why it is important enough to have its genome sequenced. Describe how and where it was isolated. Include a picture or two (with sources) if you can find them.

From the genus Lactobacillus, L. jensenii is a "facultatively anaerobic, catalase-negative, none-spore-forming, Gram Positive, rod-shaped" bacteria. This particular strain is one of the predominant species(along with Lactobacillus crispatus) found in the female lower genital tract. Because of its ________, L. jensenii has been isolated from vagina of healthy women and its 1153 genome has been sequenced by shotgun approach.

Lactobacillus jensenii. From [1]

So far, its pathogenicity for men is unknown.

Genome structure

Describe the size and content of the genome. How many chromosomes? Circular or linear? Other interesting features? What is known about its sequence? Does it have any plasmids? Are they important to the organism's lifestyle?

Cell structure and metabolism

Describe any interesting features and/or cell structures; how it gains energy; what important molecules it produces.

L. jensenii could be differentiated from other species of lactobacilli by the following combination of characteristics: production of only D-lactate, hydrolysis of arginine, and fermentation of cellobiose, galactose, and ribose, but not of lactose.

Ecology

Describe any interactions with other organisms (included eukaryotes), contributions to the environment, effect on environment, etc.

Pathology

How does this organism cause disease? Human, animal, plant hosts? Virulence factors, as well as patient symptoms.

Application to Biotechnology

Does this organism produce any useful compounds or enzymes? What are they and how are they used?

Current Research

Enter summaries of the most recent research here--at least three required

References

example:

Glockner, F. O., M. Kube, M. Bauer, H. Teeling, T. Lombardot, W. Ludwig, D. Gade, A. Beck, K Borzym, K Heitmann, R. Rabus, H. Schlesner, R. Amann, and R. Reinhardt. 2003. "Complete genome sequence of the marine planctomycete Pirellula sp. strain 1." Proceedings of the National Acedemy of Sciences, vol. 100, no. 14. (8298-8303)

Enevold Falsen, Christina Pascual, Berit Sjoden, Maria Ohlen and Matthew D. Collins. 1999. Phenotypic and phylogenetic characterization of a novel Lactobacillus species from human sources: description of Lactobacillus iners sp.nov." 'International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology', vol 49, (217–221)

Edited by Frances Cho, student of Rachel Larsen at UCSD.