title: Identification of Bacillus anthracis by rpoB sequence analysis and multiplex PCR.
abstract: Comparative sequence analysis was performed upon Bacillus anthracis and its closest relatives, B. cereus and B. thuringiensis. Portions of rpoB DNA from 10 strains of B. anthracis, 16 of B. cereus, 10 of B. thuringiensis, 1 of B. mycoides, and 1 of B. megaterium were amplified and sequenced. The determined rpoB sequences (318 bp) of the 10 B. anthracis strains, including five Korean isolates, were identical to those of Ames, Florida, Kruger B, and Western NA strains. Strains of the "B. cereus group" were separated into two subgroups, in which the B. anthracis strains formed a separate clade in the phylogenetic tree. However, B. cereus and B. thuringiensis could not be differentiated. Sequence analysis confirmed the five Korean isolates as B. anthracis. Based on the rpoB sequences determined in the present study, multiplex PCR generating either B. anthracis-specific amplicons (359 and 208 bp) or cap DNA (291 bp) in a virulence plasmid could be used for the rapid differential detection and identification of virulent B. anthracis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Cancer Research Institute, Institute of Endemic Diseases, SNUMRC, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul 110-799, Korea.
authors.forename: Kwan Soo
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Jong-Man
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jong-Wan
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Byeong Yeal
authors.initials: BY
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Wonyong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Ik Jung
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Yoon-Hoh
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Kook
mesh_terms: D000881:Anthrax / Q000382:microbiology; D001408:Bacillus anthracis / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity; D001409:Bacillus cereus / Q000235:genetics; D001413:Bacillus thuringiensis / Q000235:genetics; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D001483:Base Sequence; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases; C105078:RNA polymerase beta subunit