Compared to other families such as Enterobacteriaceae, Vibrionaceae, Streptococcaceae, genomes of bacteria in the Neisseriaceae family have been relatively under-studied. Within this family, Neisseria meningitidis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Chromobacterium violaceum are the only species with completely sequenced genomes [11] [12] [13] . In view of its potential clinical importance, distinct phylogenetic position, interesting phenotypic characteristics and the availability of genetic manipulation systems [14] [15] [16] [17] , we sequenced and annotated the complete genome of a strain (HLHK9) of L. hongkongensis recovered from a 36-year old previously healthy Chinese patient with profuse diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal pain [4] . Proteomes of L. hongkongensis growing at 37uC (body temperature of human) and 20uC (average temperature of freshwater habitat in fall and winter) [9] were also compared.