title: Rapid Identification and Characterization of Francisella by Molecular Biology and Other Techniques.
abstract: Francisella tularensis is the causative pathogen of tularemia and a Tier 1 bioterror agent on the CDC list. Considering the fact that some subpopulation of the F. tularensis strains is more virulent, more significantly associated with mortality, and therefore poses more threat to humans, rapid identification and characterization of this subpopulation strains is of invaluable importance. This review summarizes the up-to-date developments of assays for mainly detecting and characterizing F. tularensis and a touch of caveats of some of the assays.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Inflammation & Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China; Institute of Translational Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China.
authors.forename: Xin-He
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Key Laboratory of Plant-Microbe Interactions of Henan, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu, Henan, 476000, PR China.
authors.forename: Long-Fei
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Inflammation & Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China; Institute of Translational Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China ; Department of Pediatric Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Ming
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Inflammation & Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China; Department of Biomedical Sciences, Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ren
keywords: Francisella tularensis; molecular characterization; subpopulation typing; virulence