Zwick Michael E, Kiley Maureen P, Stewart Andrew C, Mateczun Alfred, Read Timothy D
Biological Defense Research Directorate, Naval Medical Research Center, Silver Spring, Maryland, United States of America. Michael E. Zwick
PLoS One. 2008 Jul 2;3(7):e2513. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0002513.
The ability to distinguish microbial pathogens from closely related but nonpathogenic strains is key to understanding the population biology of these organisms. In this regard, Bacillus anthracis, the bacterium that causes inhalational anthrax, is of interest because it is closely related and often difficult to distinguish from other members of the B. cereus group that can cause diverse diseases. We employed custom-designed resequencing arrays (RAs) based on the genome sequence of Bacillus anthracis to generate 422 kb of genomic sequence from a panel of 41 Bacillus cereus sensu lato strains. Here we show that RAs represent a "one reaction" genotyping technology with the ability to discriminate between highly similar B. anthracis isolates and more divergent strains of the B. cereus s.l. Clade 1. Our data show that RAs can be an efficient genotyping technology for pre-screening the genetic diversity of large strain collections to selected the best candidates for whole genome sequencing.
区分微生物病原体与密切相关但无致病性的菌株的能力，是理解这些生物体群体生物学的关键。在这方面，引起吸入性炭疽的炭疽芽孢杆菌备受关注，因为它与蜡样芽孢杆菌群的其他成员密切相关，且常常难以区分，而蜡样芽孢杆菌群的其他成员可导致多种疾病。我们基于炭疽芽孢杆菌的基因组序列，采用定制设计的重测序阵列（RA），从一组41株蜡样芽孢杆菌复合群菌株中生成了422 kb的基因组序列。在此我们表明，RA代表一种“一步反应”基因分型技术，能够区分高度相似的炭疽芽孢杆菌分离株和蜡样芽孢杆菌复合群进化枝1中差异更大的菌株。我们的数据表明，RA可以成为一种高效的基因分型技术，用于对大量菌株集合的遗传多样性进行预筛选，以挑选出全基因组测序的最佳候选菌株。
