During the past two decades, the technological progress of whole-genome sequencing (WGS) had changed the fields of Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology, and, currently, is changing the underlying principles, approaches, and fundamentals of Public Health, Epidemiology, Health Economics, and national productivity. Today’s WGS technologies are able to compete with conventional techniques in cost, speed, accuracy, and resolution for day-to-day control of infectious diseases and outbreaks in clinical laboratories and in long-term epidemiological investigations. WGS gives rise to an exciting future direction for personalized Genomic Epidemiology. One of the most vital and growing public health problems is the emerging and re-emerging of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial infections in the communities and healthcare settings, reinforced by a decline in antimicrobial drug discovery. In recent years, retrospective analysis provided by WGS has had a great impact on the identification and tracking of MDR microorganisms in hospitals and communities. The obtained genomic data are also important for developing novel easy-to-use diagnostic assays for clinics, as well as for antibiotic and therapeutic development at both the personal and population levels. At present, this technology has been successfully applied as an addendum to the real-time diagnostic methods currently used in clinical laboratories. However, the significance of WGS for public health may increase if: (a) unified and user-friendly bioinformatics toolsets for easy data interpretation and management are established, and (b) standards for data validation and verification are developed. Herein, we review the current and future impact of this technology on diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and control of MDR infectious bacteria in clinics and on the global scale.

The Bacillus cereus group consists of closely related species of bacteria and is of interest to researchers due to its importance in industry and medicine. However, it remains difficult to distinguish these bacteria at the intra- and inter-species level. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a member of the B. cereus group. In this work, we studied the inter-species structure of five entomopathogenic strains and 20 isolates of Bt, which were collected from different geo-ecological regions of Ukraine, using various methods: physiological and biochemical analyses, analysis of the nucleotide sequences of the 16S rRNA and gyrB genes, by AP-PCR (BOX and ERIC), and by saAFLP. The analysis of the 16S rRNA and gyrB genes revealed the existence of six subgroups within theB.cereus group: B anthracis, B. cereus I and II, Bt I and II, and Bt III, and confirmed that these isolates belong to the genus Bacillus. All strains were subdivided into 3 groups. Seventeen strains belong to the group Bt II of commercial, industrial strains. The AP-PCR (BOX and ERIC) and saAFLP results were in good agreement and with the results obtained for the 16S rRNA and gyrB genes. Based on the derived patterns, all strains were reliably combined into 5 groups. Interestingly, a specific pattern was revealed by the saAFLP analysis for the industrial strain Bt 0376 р.о., which is used to produce the entomopathogenic preparation “STAR-t”.

Bacterial spot of tomato, caused by X. vesicatoria (Group B) and X. gardneri (Group 0) (Jones et al., 2004) has become a very important disease of tomato in the Russian Federation. It was reported previously that this plant can be affected by Xantlwmonas campestris pv. raphani as well (White, 1930). Leaf spots and wilt symptoms were observed in 2006 on tomato fields located in Krasnodar, Stavropol, and Alania-Osetia regions. Forty-tree original strains were cloned and characterized based on colony characteristics and biochemical properties (Jones et al., 2004). Reference strains included XV 153 (group A), NCPPB 4221 (Group B), XV 938 (Group C), XV GA2, XV444 (Group D), and several X. campestris (NCPPB 528T, PHW 231, and NCPPB 1946T)• The genes gyrB, operon Xcc0006-Xcc0007 (genome of Xcc ATCC 33913; da Silva et al. , 2002), and gene cytP450 were amplified and sequenced in the strains. Analysis of the nucleotide sequences revealed a unique group (seven strains) isolated from diseased tomato plants collected in Alania-Osetia (North Caucasus) with symptoms of leaf spots and "black rot-like" wiltin. Those strains were grouped together with X. cainpestris pv. raphani NCPPB 1946 from radish. The strains were amylolytic, pectolytic, and most similar to X. vesicatoria in other biochemical properties. This is the first report of X. campestris pv. rap hani on tomato in Russia.

Bacterial spot of tomato, caused by Xanthomonas euvesicatoria (Group A), X. vesicatoria (Group B), X. perforans (group C) and X. gardneri (Group D) (Jones et al., 2004), formerly known as X. campestris pv. vesicatoria, has become very important in the Russian Federation. Leaf spots and wilt symptoms were observed in 2006 in tomato fields located in southern European part of Russia. Field symptoms were first observed in early July of 2006 and had spread to over 30% of the plants in some fields by late August. Yellow-pigmented Xanthornonas-like bacteria were isolated from plants using yeast extract-CaCO3 agar. Forty-three original strains were cloned and characterized based on morphologic and biochemical properties, by genetic analysis including rep-PCR, AP-PCR and gene sequencing. Reference strains included XV153 (group A), NCPPB 422 1 (Group B), XV 938 (Group C), XV GA2, XV444 (Group D), and 15 strains stored since 1947. Phenotypic and genetic properties of newly isolated and archived Russian strains were similar. Twent y-three strains that were not amylolytic or pectolytic and failed to utilize cis-aconitic acid were identified as X. gardneri and 18 strains that were strongly amylolytic and pectolytic were identified as X. vesicatoria; neither X. euvesicatoria nor X. perforans were found.

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