Brucella microti CCM 4915

The genus Brucella is comprised mostly of mammalian pathogens, which due to their low infectious does, aerosol transmission and treatment difficulty are classified as potential bioterrorism agents. Brucella microti was recently isolated from diseased voles in the Czech Republic (Microtus arvalis), and has been more recently isolated from foxes and apparently free-living in soil in Czech soil. Unlike almost all other Brucella species known to date it is a fast growing and biochemically active organism. Comparison with its closest relative, B.suis 1330 (BRUSU) showed near-perfect co-linearity. The major difference is a 12 kb insertion present in B.microti which is thought to have little phenotypical consequence. There are 4 genes inactive in all other Brucella species studied to date that are active in B.microti and Ochrobactrum anthropi (OCHA4, a close relative), as well as a difference in the 23S rRNA that is also shared with another fast-growing strain, Brucella inopinata. However, how such small differences in gene content result in very different phenotypes has to be determined, and will complicate the task of identifying virulence determinants in Brucella (adapted from PMID 18680668 and 19653890). (EBI Integr8)