Genome update: base skews in 200+ bacterial chromosomes.

Nine new microbial genomes have been published since the last Genome Update was written, seven of which are from bacterial organisms and the other two are Plasmodium genomes. These are summarized in Table 1 and include two a-Proteobacteria, Anaplasma marginale and Zymomonas mobilis, the latter of which is an ethanologenic bacterium; the deep-sea c-proteobacterium Idiomarina loihiensis; the thermophilic Bacillus-related species Geobacillus kaustophilus; a PCE-dechlorinating bacterium, Dehalococcoides ethenogenes, which is the first sequenced genome from the phylum Chloroflexi; Salmonella enterica, which causes typhoid in humans; and Campylobacter jejuni, which is the major cause of human bacterial gastroenteritis. The two Plasmodium genomes, Plasmodium chabaudi and Plasmodium berghei, have also been sequenced for use as model malaria species. A brief discussion of these is given below.