title: Genetic characterization of Bacillus anthracis in Guizhou Province, Southwest of China.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Bacillus (B.) anthracis is the pathogen that causes fatal anthrax. Guizhou Province is an old foci of anthrax in the southwest of China. Human anthrax has also been frequently reported in Guizhou in recent year. However, there is limited information on the genetic background of local B. anthracis isolates in Guizhou Province. Strain-specific detection of this bacterium using molecular approaches has enhanced our knowledge of microbial genetics. In the present study, we employed Multiple Locus Variable Number Tandem Repeats (VNTR) Analysis (MLVA) assay to analyze the genetic characteristics of B. anthracis strains isolated in Guizhou Province and their relationships to worldwide distributed isolates.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 32 isolates of B. anthracis from soil, human, cattle, dog and water of different anthrax epidemics in Guizhou Province from 2006 to 2011 were confirmed with phage lysis test, penicillin inhibition test and PCR. MLVA-8 discriminated them into 28 unique MLVA types (MT G1 - G28), which were novel MTs compared with the previous reports. Cluster tree based on 32 isolates from Guizhou Province and 76 worldwide distributed isolates (30 MTs) showed they were divided into three clusters, designated A, B and C. All the 32 isolates were distributed in cluster A, which were further grouped into A1, A2, A3 and A4 sub-clusters. 32 isolates from Guizhou Province were closely grouped in each of the sub-clusters, respectively. Minimum Spanning Tree (MST) based on the MLVA data showed that the 28 MLVA profiles of isolates from Guizhou Province and 30 MLVA profiles of worldwide distributed isolates formed three clonal complexes (CCs) and ten singletons.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  28 novel MTs of B. anthracis from Guizhou were revealed and their relationships to worldwide isolates were showed. The results will provide important information for prevention of anthrax and also enhances our understanding of genetic characteristics of B. anthracis in China.
authors.affiliation: Institute of communicable disease control and prevention, Guizhou Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, 101 Bageyan Road, Guiyang, 550004, Guizhou, People's Republic of China. zjumedjun@163.com.
authors.forename: Shijun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute of communicable disease control and prevention, Guizhou Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, 101 Bageyan Road, Guiyang, 550004, Guizhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Guiyang Centre for Animal Disease Control and Prevention, Guiyang, China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute of communicable disease control and prevention, Guizhou Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, 101 Bageyan Road, Guiyang, 550004, Guizhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Dingming
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute of communicable disease control and prevention, Guizhou Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, 101 Bageyan Road, Guiyang, 550004, Guizhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Institute of communicable disease control and prevention, Guizhou Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, 101 Bageyan Road, Guiyang, 550004, Guizhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiaoyu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Institute of communicable disease control and prevention, Guizhou Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, 101 Bageyan Road, Guiyang, 550004, Guizhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Lv
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: You
authors.affiliation: Institute of communicable disease control and prevention, Guizhou Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, 101 Bageyan Road, Guiyang, 550004, Guizhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Guanghai
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Institute of communicable disease control and prevention, Guizhou Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, 101 Bageyan Road, Guiyang, 550004, Guizhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Kecheng
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: Institute of communicable disease control and prevention, Guizhou Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, 101 Bageyan Road, Guiyang, 550004, Guizhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Guangpeng
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000881:Anthrax / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D001408:Bacillus anthracis / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001434:Bacteriophage Typing; D002681:China; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004285:Dogs; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D018598:Minisatellite Repeats; D058889:Molecular Typing; D010406:Penicillins / Q000494:pharmacology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D010406:Penicillins