title: Genetic relationships of Bacillus anthracis and closely related species based on variable-number tandem repeat analysis and BOX-PCR genomic fingerprinting.
abstract: Variable-number tandem repeats (VNTR) analysis and BOX-repeat-based PCR (BOX-PCR) genomic fingerprinting were performed on 25 Bacillus strains to investigate the genetic relatedness of Bacillus anthracis to the closely related species. Based on VNTR analysis, all B. anthracis strains could be assigned to (VNTR)(4), which is the most commonly found type in the world. Interestingly, a (VNTR)(2) was also observed in Bacillus cereus KCTC 1661 and with an exact match to the tandem repeats found in B. anthracis. This finding has never been reported before in the closely related species. According to the BOX-PCR, B. anthracis strains clustered together and separated reliably from the closely related species. However, B. cereus KCTC 1661 was linked to the B. anthracis cluster and showed close relationships with B. anthracis strains. These results indicated that there was a strong correlation between VNTR analysis and BOX-PCR genomic fingerprinting.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine and Institute of Medical Research, Seoul 156-756, South Korea.
authors.forename: Wonyong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Yeon-pyo
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Jae-hyung
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.forename: Won-bok
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Chul-soon
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Sang-in
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Chung
mesh_terms: D001407:Bacillus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D001408:Bacillus anthracis / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D001483:Base Sequence; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting / Q000379:methods; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D018598:Minisatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA