Intriguing diversity ofBacillus anthracisin eastern Poland – the molecular echoes of the past outbreaks

Abstract

The multiple locus VNTRs analysis (MLVA) revealed the presence of five genotypes in a group of 10 Bacillus anthracis isolates from epidemiologically unrelated cases of bovine-anthrax in eastern Poland. Eight tested isolates possessed the pagA and capB genes indicating the presence of both virulence plasmids, while two isolates revealed only pagA and lacked pXO2. The MLVA and DNA sequence analysis indicated that seven tested isolates represent four novel genotypes. Five tested strains revealed a unique 144 bp vrrB2 variant as well as 220 bp variant of vrrB1, implying the relatedness to the lineage B2. Consequently, we propose establishing of novel B2 strains sub-lineage. Multiple anthrax outbreaks, which took place in Poland several decades ago were proposed as a cause of intriguing diversity of B. anthracis observed in this study.

Plasmid-borne 16S rRNA methylase ArmA in aminoglycoside-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae in Poland

“…IncF and IncR primers described by Galimand et al (2005) were used to detect plasmids of the IncL/M incompatibility group. DNA sequencing of PCR products was conducted for both the DNA strands as previously described (Gierczyń ski et al, 2004). All the PCR tests were conducted in triplicate.…”

Identifying and Quantifying Genotypes in Polyclonal Infections due to Single Species

“…For Mycobacterium tuberculosis , examples include variation in the tandem repeats within IS 6110 ( 20 ), variable numbers of tandem repeats (VNTRs) ( 21 ), and genomic deletions ( 22 ). For select agents, examples include variation in VNTRs (multiple locus VNTR analysis) in Bacillus anthracis ( 23 , 24 ), similar differences in Yersinia pestis ( 25 ), and insertions, deletions, and variation in the inverted terminal repeat region and the coding region of the smallpox virus ( 26 , 27 ) (Table 4). …”

“…This finding means that capillary electrophoresis is more than sufficiently sensitive to detect biologically significant insertions and deletions in genetically modified organisms ( 23 – 30 ). Thus, it provides an open-ended strategy to test for genetically modified organisms, by testing for size polymorphisms at critically important sites in the pathogen genome, e.g., at sites related to pathogenicity (virulence) or antimicrobial resistance.…”

Application of High-Throughput Sequencing: Discovery of Informative SNPs to Subtype <i>Bacillus anthracis</i>

“…The eight A-lineages or groups exhibit distinct geographical patterns across the five continents. [21]. The C-clade is composed of an uncommon lineage, C.Br.A1055, clustering only three collection's isolates of unknown origin [10] [22].…”