Bacillus anthracis

About: Bacillus anthracis is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3994 publications have been published within this topic receiving 128122 citations.

The critical role of pathology in the investigation of bioterrorism-related cutaneous anthrax

Abstract: Cutaneous anthrax is a rare zoonotic disease in the United States. The clinical diagnosis traditionally has been established by conventional microbiological methods, such as culture and gram staining. However, these methods often yield negative results when patients have received antibiotics. During the bioterrorism event of 2001, we applied two novel immunohistochemical assays that can detect Bacillus anthracis antigens in skin biopsy samples even after prolonged antibiotic treatment. These assays provided a highly sensitive and specific method for the diagnosis of cutaneous anthrax, and were critical in the early and rapid diagnosis of 8 of 11 cases of cutaneous anthrax during the outbreak investigation. Skin biopsies were obtained from 10 of these 11 cases, and histopathological findings included various degrees of ulceration, hemorrhage, edema, coagulative necrosis, perivascular inflammation, and vasculitis. Serology was also an important investigation tool, but the results required several weeks because of the need to test paired serum specimens. Other tests, including culture, special stains, and polymerase chain reaction assay, were less valuable in the diagnosis and epidemiological investigation of these cutaneous anthrax cases. This report underscores the critical role of pathology in investigating potential bioterrorism events and in guiding epidemiological studies, a role that was clearly demonstrated in 2001 when B. anthracis spores were intentionally released through the United States postal system.

Use of fatty acid profiles to identify food-borne bacterial pathogens and aerobic endospore-forming bacilli.

Abstract: Capillary gas chromatography (GC) with flame ionization detection was used to determine the cellular fatty acid profiles of various food-borne microbial pathogens and to compare the fatty acid profiles of spores and vegetative cells of the same endospore-forming bacilli. Fifteen bacteria, representing eight genera (Staphylococcus, Listeria, Bacillus, Yersinia, Salmonella, Shigella, Escherichia, and Vibrio) and 11 species were used to compare the extracted fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs). Endospore-forming bacilli were processed to obtain pure spores and whole cell FAMEs for GC analysis. A data set for each bacterial agent was prepared using fatty acid profiles from five replicates prepared on different days. The results showed that these fatty acid intensity profiles were unique for each of the 11 species and that they could be used as a fingerprint for the organisms. The cellular fatty acid profiles for Bacillus anthracis and Bacillus cereus show that there are two branched chain fatty acids, iso 17:1 ω...

Bacillus anthracis diverges from related clades of the Bacillus cereus group in 16S-23S ribosomal DNA intergenic transcribed spacers containing tRNA genes.

Abstract: Mung bean nuclease treatment of 16S-23S ribosomal DNA intergenic transcribed spacers (ITS) amplified from several strains of the six species of the Bacillus cereus group showed that B. anthracis Davis TE702 and B. mycoides G2 have other intermediate fragments in addition to the 220- and 550-bp homoduplex fragments typical of the B. cereus group. Long and intermediate homoduplex ITS fragments from strains Davis TE702 and G2 and from another 19 strains of the six species were sequenced. Two main types of ITS were found, either with two tRNA genes (tRNAIle and tRNAAla) or without any at all. Strain Davis TE702 harbors an additional ITS with a single tRNA gene, a hybrid between the tRNAIle and tRNAAla genes, suggesting that a recombination event rather than a deletion generated the single tDNA-containing ITS. Strain G2 showed an additional ITS of intermediate length with no tDNA and no similarity to other known sequences. Neighbor-joining analysis of tDNA-containing long ITS indicated that B. cereus and B. thuringiensis represent a single clade. Three signature sequences discriminated B. anthracis from B. cereus and B. thuringiensis, indicating that the anthrax agent started evolving separately from the related clades of the B. cereus group. B. mycoides and B. weienstephanensis were very closely related, while B. pseudomycoides appeared the most distant species.

Direct detection of Bacillus anthracis DNA in animals by polymerase chain reaction.

Abstract: Bacillus anthracis is a soil pathogen capable of causing anthrax. To establish a method for specifically detecting B. anthracis for practical applications, such as for the inspection of slaughterhouses, the cap region, which is essential for encapsulation in B. anthracis, was used in a DNA hybridization study by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Oligonucleotide primers were designed to amplify a 288-bp DNA fragment within the capA gene by PCR. The amplified DNA sequence specifically hybridized to the DNA of B. anthracis but not to that of other bacterial strains tested. Since this PCR-based method efficiently and specifically detected the capA sequence of bacteria in blood and spleen samples of mice within 8 h after the administration of live B. anthracis, this PCR system could be used for practical applications. By using lysis methods in preparing the samples for PCR, it was possible to amplify the 288-bp DNA segment from samples containing very few bacteria, as few as only 1 sporeforming unit, indicating that the PCR detection method developed in this study will permit the monitoring of B. anthracis contamination in the environment.

Translocation of Bacillus anthracis lethal and oedema factors across endosome membranes.

Abstract: The two exotoxins of Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax, are the oedema toxin (PA-EF) and the lethal toxin (PA-LF). They exert their catalytic activities within the cytosol. The internalization process requires receptor-mediated endocytosis and passage through acidic vesicles. We investigated the translocation of EF and LF enzymatic moieties across the target cell membrane. By selective permeabilization of the plasma membrane with Clostridium perfringens delta-toxin, we observed free full-size lethal factor (LF) within the cytosol, resulting from specific translocation from early endosomes. In contrast, oedema factor (EF) remained associated with the membranes of vesicles.