Open AccessGenetic relationships of Bacillus anthracis and closely related species based on variable‐number tandem repeat analysis and BOX‐PCR genomic fingerprinting
Author(s) -
Kim Wonyong,
Hong Yeonpyo,
Yoo Jaehyung,
Lee Wonbok,
Choi Chulsoon,
Chung Sangin
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.2002.tb11022.x
Subject(s) - variable number tandem repeat , biology , dna profiling , bacillus anthracis , genetics , tandem repeat , computational biology , genotype , genome , gene , dna , bacteria
Variable‐number tandem repeats (VNTR) analysis and BOX‐repeat‐based PCR (BOX‐PCR) genomic fingerprinting were performed on 25 Bacillus strains to investigate the genetic relatedness of Bacillus anthracis to the closely related species. Based on VNTR analysis, all B. anthracis strains could be assigned to (VNTR) 4 , which is the most commonly found type in the world. Interestingly, a (VNTR) 2 was also observed in Bacillus cereus KCTC 1661 and with an exact match to the tandem repeats found in B. anthracis . This finding has never been reported before in the closely related species. According to the BOX‐PCR, B. anthracis strains clustered together and separated reliably from the closely related species. However, B. cereus KCTC 1661 was linked to the B. anthracis cluster and showed close relationships with B. anthracis strains. These results indicated that there was a strong correlation between VNTR analysis and BOX‐PCR genomic fingerprinting.