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Comparative Study
. 2006 May;188(9):3382-90.
doi: 10.1128/JB.188.9.3382-3390.2006.

Pathogenomic sequence analysis of Bacillus cereus and Bacillus thuringiensis isolates closely related to Bacillus anthracis

Cliff S Han  1 , Gary Xie, Jean F Challacombe, Michael R Altherr, Smriti S Bhotika, Nancy Brown, David Bruce, Connie S Campbell, Mary L Campbell, Jin Chen, Olga Chertkov, Cathy Cleland, Mira Dimitrijevic, Norman A Doggett, John J Fawcett, Tijana Glavina, Lynne A Goodwin, Lance D Green, Karen K Hill, Penny Hitchcock, Paul J Jackson, Paul Keim, Avinash Ramesh Kewalramani, Jon Longmire, Susan Lucas, Stephanie Malfatti, Kim McMurry, Linda J Meincke, Monica Misra, Bernice L Moseman, Mark Mundt, A Christine Munk, Richard T Okinaka, B Parson-Quintana, Lee Philip Reilly, Paul Richardson, Donna L Robinson, Eddy Rubin, Elizabeth Saunders, Roxanne Tapia, Judith G Tesmer, Nina Thayer, Linda S Thompson, Hope Tice, Lawrence O Ticknor, Patti L Wills, Thomas S Brettin, Paul Gilna
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Pathogenomic sequence analysis of Bacillus cereus and Bacillus thuringiensis isolates closely related to Bacillus anthracis

Cliff S Han et al. J Bacteriol. 2006 May.

Erratum in

  • J Bacteriol. 2006 Nov;188(21):7711. Brown, Nancy [added]; Green, Lance D [added]

Abstract

Bacillus anthracis, Bacillus cereus, and Bacillus thuringiensis are closely related gram-positive, spore-forming bacteria of the B. cereus sensu lato group. While independently derived strains of B. anthracis reveal conspicuous sequence homogeneity, environmental isolates of B. cereus and B. thuringiensis exhibit extensive genetic diversity. Here we report the sequencing and comparative analysis of the genomes of two members of the B. cereus group, B. thuringiensis 97-27 subsp. konkukian serotype H34, isolated from a necrotic human wound, and B. cereus E33L, which was isolated from a swab of a zebra carcass in Namibia. These two strains, when analyzed by amplified fragment length polymorphism within a collection of over 300 of B. cereus, B. thuringiensis, and B. anthracis isolates, appear closely related to B. anthracis. The B. cereus E33L isolate appears to be the nearest relative to B. anthracis identified thus far. Whole-genome sequencing of B. thuringiensis 97-27and B. cereus E33L was undertaken to identify shared and unique genes among these isolates in comparison to the genomes of pathogenic strains B. anthracis Ames and B. cereus G9241 and nonpathogenic strains B. cereus ATCC 10987 and B. cereus ATCC 14579. Comparison of these genomes revealed differences in terms of virulence, metabolic competence, structural components, and regulatory mechanisms.

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Figures

FIG. 1.
FIG. 1.
An AFLP-based tree of B. anthracis, B. cereus, and B. thuringiensis isolates. These 48 isolates are representative of the branches identified when over 300 isolates of B. anthracis, B. thuringiensis, and B. cereus were examined by AFLP. Yellow highlighted isolates have fully sequenced genomes, blue indicates B. thuringiensis isolates, black shows B. cereus isolates, and red indicates B. anthracis isolates.
FIG. 2.
FIG. 2.
A. Comparison of the gerI and hbl operon regions in B. cereus, B. thuringiensis, and B. anthracis. The light blue area between the two groups indicates that these regions share a high level of identity. A conserved region consists of five contiguous genes in B. anthracis Ames, including l-asparaginase (BA3137), ans operon repressor (BA3138), degenerate ISRso11 transposase (BA3139), UvrC-like protein (BA3140), and amino acid permease (BA3141). B. Flanking region of insertion boundary. The orthologs of genes are shown as arrows of the same color. BT9727_2896/BA3140 encode UvrC-like proteins. BT9727_2885.1/BA3139 encode degenerate ISRso11 transposase. Yellow blocks denote the direct repeats found around the insertion boundary. The red triangle indicates the genes of the C-terminal UvrC-like protein fragment.
FIG. 3.
FIG. 3.
Schematic presentation of phosphotransferase system-catalyzed sugar uptake and phosphorylation in B. cereus E33L, showing possible metabolic pathways catalyzed by the products of genes in this polymorphic locus. Steps along the pathways are catalyzed by the gene products specified near the corresponding arrow.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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