This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Cherif, A.
Right arrow Articles by Daffonchio, D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Cherif, A.
Right arrow Articles by Daffonchio, D.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Cherif, A.
Right arrow Articles by Daffonchio, D.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, January 2003, p. 33-40, Vol. 69, No. 1
0099-2240/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.69.1.33-40.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Bacillus anthracis Diverges from Related Clades of the Bacillus cereus Group in 16S-23S Ribosomal DNA Intergenic Transcribed Spacers Containing tRNA Genes

Ameur Cherif,1,2 Sara Borin,1 Aurora Rizzi,1 Hadda Ouzari,2 Abdellatif Boudabous,2 and Daniele Daffonchio1*

Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Alimentari e Microbiologiche (DISTAM), Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy,1 Laboratoire de Microbiologie, Département de Biologie, Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, 2092 Tunis, Tunisia2

Received 1 May 2002/ Accepted 30 September 2002

Mung bean nuclease treatment of 16S-23S ribosomal DNA intergenic transcribed spacers (ITS) amplified from several strains of the six species of the Bacillus cereus group showed that B. anthracis Davis TE702 and B. mycoides G2 have other intermediate fragments in addition to the 220- and 550-bp homoduplex fragments typical of the B. cereus group. Long and intermediate homoduplex ITS fragments from strains Davis TE702 and G2 and from another 19 strains of the six species were sequenced. Two main types of ITS were found, either with two tRNA genes (tRNAIle and tRNAAla) or without any at all. Strain Davis TE702 harbors an additional ITS with a single tRNA gene, a hybrid between the tRNAIle and tRNAAla genes, suggesting that a recombination event rather than a deletion generated the single tDNA-containing ITS. Strain G2 showed an additional ITS of intermediate length with no tDNA and no similarity to other known sequences. Neighbor-joining analysis of tDNA-containing long ITS indicated that B. cereus and B. thuringiensis represent a single clade. Three signature sequences discriminated B. anthracis from B. cereus and B. thuringiensis, indicating that the anthrax agent started evolving separately from the related clades of the B. cereus group. B. mycoides and B. weienstephanensis were very closely related, while B. pseudomycoides appeared the most distant species.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Alimentari e Microbiologiche, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Celoria 2, 20133 Milan, Italy. Phone: 39-0250316730. Fax: 39-0250316694. E-mail: daniele.daffonchio{at}unimi.it.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, January 2003, p. 33-40, Vol. 69, No. 1
0099-2240/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.69.1.33-40.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Kim, W., Kim, J.-Y., Cho, S.-L., Nam, S.-W., Shin, J.-W., Kim, Y.-S., Shin, H.-S. (2008). Glycosyltransferase - a specific marker for the discrimination of Bacillus anthracis from the Bacillus cereus group. J Med Microbiol 57: 279-286 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Daffonchio, D., Raddadi, N., Merabishvili, M., Cherif, A., Carmagnola, L., Brusetti, L., Rizzi, A., Chanishvili, N., Visca, P., Sharp, R., Borin, S. (2006). Strategy for Identification of Bacillus cereus and Bacillus thuringiensis Strains Closely Related to Bacillus anthracis. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 72: 1295-1301 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Valjevac, S., Hilaire, V., Lisanti, O., Ramisse, F., Hernandez, E., Cavallo, J.-D., Pourcel, C., Vergnaud, G. (2005). Comparison of Minisatellite Polymorphisms in the Bacillus cereus Complex: a Simple Assay for Large-Scale Screening and Identification of Strains Most Closely Related to Bacillus anthracis. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71: 6613-6623 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Cardinale, M., Brusetti, L., Quatrini, P., Borin, S., Puglia, A. M., Rizzi, A., Zanardini, E., Sorlini, C., Corselli, C., Daffonchio, D. (2004). Comparison of Different Primer Sets for Use in Automated Ribosomal Intergenic Spacer Analysis of Complex Bacterial Communities. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 70: 6147-6156 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Ko, K. S., Kim, J.-W., Kim, J.-M., Kim, W., Chung, S.-i., Kim, I. J., Kook, Y.-H. (2004). Population Structure of the Bacillus cereus Group as Determined by Sequence Analysis of Six Housekeeping Genes and the plcR Gene. Infect. Immun. 72: 5253-5261 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Daffonchio, D., Cherif, A., Brusetti, L., Rizzi, A., Mora, D., Boudabous, A., Borin, S. (2003). Nature of Polymorphisms in 16S-23S rRNA Gene Intergenic Transcribed Spacer Fingerprinting of Bacillus and Related Genera. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 69: 5128-5137 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»