Bacillus cereus biovar anthracis str. CI

Bacillus cereus is a Gram-positive, spore-forming bacterium of the B.cereus group. It is closely related to Bacillus anthracis and Bacillus thuringiensis. Bacillus cereus is a ubiquitous soil organism and opportunistic human pathogen most commonly associated with food poisoning, causing diarrheic (late onset) or emetic (quick onset) outbreaks. Strain 03BB102 was cultured from the blood of a 39 year old San Antonio, Texas welder who died as a result of a severe pneumonia thought to be caused by this microbe. Unlike B. anthracis, the isolate is hemolytic, motile and resistant to gamma phage. However, it is positive for a DFA-based cell wall test for B. anthracis, and it has all or most of the pXO1 pathogenicity island sequences including the sequences for pag, cya and lef. It is negative for the B. anthracis capsule formation genes but still has a capsule, presumably encoded by its own capsule genes. It was not determined whether any of these genes were expressed during the infection but the severe pneumonia of which the individual died was never mistaken for an anthrax infection. The genome of Bacillus cereus 03BB102 will provide information on the potential pathogenicity and genetic variability of this organism (adapted from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=genomeprj&cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=31307). (HAMAP: BACC3)