title: Various Enterotoxin and Other Virulence Factor Genes Widespread Among Bacillus cereus and Bacillus thuringiensis Strains.
abstract: Many strains of Bacillus cereus cause gastrointestinal diseases, and the closely related insect pathogen Bacillus thuringiensis has also been involved in outbreaks of diarrhea. The diarrheal diseases are attributed to enterotoxins. Sixteen reference strains of B. cereus and nine commercial and 12 reference strains of B. thuringiensis were screened by PCR for the presence of 10 enterotoxigenic genes (hblA, hblC, hblD, nheA, nheB, nheC, cytK, bceT, entFM, and entS), one emetogenic gene (ces), seven hemolytic genes (hlyA, hlyII, hlyIII, plcA, cerA, cerB, and cerO), and a pleiotropic transcriptional activator gene (plcR). These genes encode various enterotoxins and other virulence factors thought to play a role in infections of mammals. Amplicons were successfully generated from the strains of B. cereus and B. thuringiensis for each of these sequences, except the ces gene. Intriguingly, the majority of these B. cereus enterotoxin genes and other virulence factor genes appeared to be widespread among B. thuringiensis strains as well as B. cereus strains.
authors: Department of Food Science and Technology, Chung-Ang University, Ansung 456-756, Republic of Korea.
authors: Min-Ju
authors: MJ
authors: Kim
authors: Department of Food Science and Technology, Chung-Ang University, Ansung 456-756, Republic of Korea.
authors: Jae-Kwang
authors: JK
authors: Han
authors: Department of Food Science and Technology, Chung-Ang University, Ansung 456-756, Republic of Korea.
authors: Jong-Su
authors: JS
authors: Park
authors: Department of Biological Sciences, Kyonggi University, Suwon 442-760, Republic of Korea.
authors: Jin-Sung
authors: JS
authors: Lee
authors: Nutrition Safety Policy Division, The Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Cheongju 361-709, Republic of Korea.
authors: Soon-Ho
authors: SH
authors: Lee
authors: Division of Food Microbiology, The Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Cheongju 361-709, Republic of Korea.
authors: Joon-Il
authors: JI
authors: Cho
authors: Department of Food Science and Technology, Chung-Ang University, Ansung 456-756, Republic of Korea.
authors: Keun-Sung
authors: KS
authors: Kim
mesh_terms: D001409:Bacillus cereus / Q000235:genetics*; D001413:Bacillus thuringiensis / Q000235:genetics*; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000235:genetics*; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D005820:Genetic Testing; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004768:Enterotoxins; D037521:Virulence Factors