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Identification of anthrax toxin genes in a Bacillus cereus associated with an illness resembling inhalation anthrax.

ABSTRACT: Bacillus anthracis is the etiologic agent of anthrax, an acute fatal disease among mammals. It was thought to differ from Bacillus cereus, an opportunistic pathogen and cause of food poisoning, by the presence of plasmids pXO1 and pXO2, which encode the lethal toxin complex and the poly-gamma-d-glutamic acid capsule, respectively. This work describes a non-B. anthracis isolate that possesses the anthrax toxin genes and is capable of causing a severe inhalation anthrax-like illness. Although initial phenotypic and 16S rRNA analysis identified this isolate as B. cereus, the rapid generation and analysis of a high-coverage draft genome sequence revealed the presence of a circular plasmid, named pBCXO1, with 99.6% similarity with the B. anthracis toxin-encoding plasmid, pXO1. Although homologues of the pXO2 encoded capsule genes were not found, a polysaccharide capsule cluster is encoded on a second, previously unidentified plasmid, pBC218. A/J mice challenged with B. cereus G9241 confirmed the virulence of this strain. These findings represent an example of how genomics could rapidly assist public health experts responding not only to clearly identified select agents but also to novel agents with similar pathogenic potentials. In this study, we combined a public health approach with genome analysis to provide insight into the correlation of phenotypic characteristics and their genetic basis.

SUBMITTER: Hoffmaster AR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC420414 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Identification of anthrax toxin genes in a Bacillus cereus associated with an illness resembling inhalation anthrax.

Hoffmaster Alex R AR Ravel Jacques J Rasko David A DA Chapman Gail D GD Chute Michael D MD Marston Chung K CK De Barun K BK Sacchi Claudio T CT Fitzgerald Collette C Mayer Leonard W LW Maiden Martin C J MC Priest Fergus G FG Barker Margaret M Jiang Lingxia L Cer Regina Z RZ Rilstone Jennifer J Peterson Scott N SN Weyant Robbin S RS Galloway Darrell R DR Read Timothy D TD Popovic Tanja T Fraser Claire M CM

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20040521 22

Bacillus anthracis is the etiologic agent of anthrax, an acute fatal disease among mammals. It was thought to differ from Bacillus cereus, an opportunistic pathogen and cause of food poisoning, by the presence of plasmids pXO1 and pXO2, which encode the lethal toxin complex and the poly-gamma-d-glutamic acid capsule, respectively. This work describes a non-B. anthracis isolate that possesses the anthrax toxin genes and is capable of causing a severe inhalation anthrax-like illness. Although init ...[more]

PMID: 15155910

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Bacillus cereus biovar anthracis (Bcbva) is an emergent bacterium closely related to Bacillus anthracis, the etiological agent of anthrax. The latter has a worldwide distribution and usually causes infectious disease in mammals associated with savanna ecosystems. Bcbva was identified in humid tropical forests of Côte d'Ivoire in 2001. Here, we characterize the potential geographic distributions of Bcbva in West Africa and B. anthracis in sub-Saharan Africa using an ecological niche modeling approach. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:Georeferenced occurrence data for B. anthracis and Bcbva were obtained from public data repositories and the scientific literature. Combinations of temperature, humidity, vegetation greenness, and soils values served as environmental variables in model calibrations. To predict the potential distribution of suitable environments for each pathogen across the study region, parameter values derived from the median of 10 replicates of the best-performing model for each pathogen were used. We found suitable environments predicted for B. anthracis across areas of confirmed and suspected anthrax activity in sub-Saharan Africa, including an east-west corridor from Ethiopia to Sierra Leone in the Sahel region and multiple areas in eastern, central, and southern Africa. The study area for Bcbva was restricted to West and Central Africa to reflect areas that have likely been accessible to Bcbva by dispersal. Model predicted values indicated potential suitable environments within humid forested environments. Background similarity tests in geographic space indicated statistical support to reject the null hypothesis of similarity when comparing environments associated with B. anthracis to those of Bcbva and when comparing humidity values and soils values individually. We failed to reject the null hypothesis of similarity when comparing environments associated with Bcbva to those of B. anthracis, suggesting that additional investigation is needed to provide a more robust characterization of the Bcbva niche. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:This study represents the first time that the environmental and geographic distribution of Bcbva has been mapped. We document likely differences in ecological niche-and consequently in geographic distribution-between Bcbva and typical B. anthracis, and areas of possible co-occurrence between the two. We provide information crucial to guiding and improving monitoring efforts focused on these pathogens.

Project description:The Bacillus cereus group comprises 18 different species, including human pathogens as well as psychrotolerant strains that are an important cause of fluid milk spoilage. To enhance our understanding of the genetic markers associated with psychrotolerance (defined here as > 1 log10 increase in cfu/mL after 21 days incubation at 6°C) among dairy-associated B. cereus group isolates, we used genetic (whole genome sequencing) and phenotypic methods [growth in Skim Milk Broth (SMB) and Brain Heart Infusion (BHI) broth] to characterize 23 genetically-distinct representative isolates from a collection of 503 dairy-associated isolates. Quality threshold clustering identified three categories of psychrotolerance: (i) 14 isolates that were not psychrotolerant in BHI or SMB, (ii) 6 isolates that were psychrotolerant in BHI but not in SMB, and (iii) 2 isolates that were psychrotolerant in BHI and SMB. One isolate, which was psychrotolerant in BHI broth but was just below the cut-off of >1 log10 cfu/mL increase in SMB was not assigned to a cluster. A maximum likelihood phylogeny constructed with core genome single nucleotide polymorphisms classified all psychrotolerant isolates (i.e., psychrotolerant in BHI) into clade VI (representing B. mycoides/weihenstephanensis). Analysis of correlations between gene ortholog presence or absence patterns and psychrotolerance identified 206 orthologous gene clusters that were significantly overrepresented among psychrotolerant strains, including two clusters of cold shock proteins, which were identified in 8/9 and 7/9 psychrotolerant isolates. Gene ontology analyses revealed 36 gene ontology terms that were overrepresented in psychrotolerant isolates, including putrescine catabolic processes and putrescine transmembrane transporter activity. Lastly, Hidden Markov Model searches identified three protein family motifs, including cold shock domain proteins and fatty acid hydroxylases that were significantly associated with psychrotolerance in BHI broth. Analyses of CspA sequences revealed a positive association between psychrotolerant strains and a previously identified "psychrotolerant" CspA sequence. Overall, our data highlight genetic and phenotypic differences in psychrotolerance among B. cereus group dairy-associated isolates and show that psychrotolerance is dependent on the growth medium. We also identified a number of gene targets that could be used for specific detection or control of psychrotolerant B. cereus group isolates.

Dataset Information

Identification of anthrax toxin genes in a Bacillus cereus associated with an illness resembling inhalation anthrax.

Publications

Identification of anthrax toxin genes in a Bacillus cereus associated with an illness resembling inhalation anthrax.

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