ArticlePloS one2011
Genomic signatures of strain selection and enhancement in Bacillus atrophaeus var. globigii, a historical biowarfare simulant.
Article in PloS one, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers.
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Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed.
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- Effective inactivation ofJournal of analytical science and technology · 2022Article
- Comparative genomic analysis of azasugar biosynthesis.AMB Express · 2021Article
- Decontamination of soil contaminated at the surface with Bacillus anthracis spores using dry thermal treatment.Journal of environmental management · 2021Article
- A spore quality-quantity tradeoff favors diverse sporulation strategies in Bacillus subtilis.The ISME journal · 2020Article
- Review of Decontamination Techniques for the Inactivation of Bacillus anthracis and Other Spore-Forming Bacteria Associated with Building or Outdoor Materials.Environmental science & technology · 2019Review
- Iturinic Lipopeptide Diversity in theFrontiers in microbiology · 2019Article
- Surrogate strains of human pathogens for field release.Bioengineered · 2018Review
- Aerobiological Stabilities of Different Species of Gram-Negative Bacteria, Including Well-Known Biothreat Simulants, in Single-Cell Particles and Cell Clusters of Different Compositions.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2017Article
- Holographic deep learning for rapid optical screening of anthrax spores.Science advances · 2017Article
- Article
- Aerosol and Surface Deposition Characteristics of Two Surrogates for Bacillus anthracis Spores.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2016Article
- Whole-Genome Sequencing in Microbial Forensic Analysis of Gamma-Irradiated Microbial Materials.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2016Article
- Longitudinal Metagenomic Analysis of Hospital Air Identifies Clinically Relevant Microbes.PloS one · 2016Article
- Draft Genome Sequence of the Biowarfare Simulant Bacillus atrophaeus Strain 930029.Genome announcements · 2015Article
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Authors and funding
29 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDespite the decades-long use of Bacillus atrophaeus var. globigii (BG) as a simulant for biological warfare (BW) agents, knowledge of its genome composition is limited. Furthermore, the ability to differentiate signatures of deliberate adaptation and selection from natural variation is lacking for most bacterial agents. We characterized a lineage of BGwith a long history of use as a simulant for BW operations, focusing on classical bacteriological markers, metabolic profiling and whole-genome shotgun sequencing (WGS).
resultsArchival strains and two "present day" type strains were compared to simulant strains on different laboratory media. Several of the samples produced multiple colony morphotypes that differed from that of an archival isolate. To trace the microevolutionary history of these isolates, we obtained WGS data for several archival and present-day strains and morphotypes. Bacillus-wide phylogenetic analysis identified B. subtilis as the nearest neighbor to B. atrophaeus. The genome of B. atrophaeus is, on average, 86% identical to B. subtilis on the nucleotide level. WGS of variants revealed that several strains were mixed but highly related populations and uncovered a progressive accumulation of mutations among the "military" isolates. Metabolic profiling and microscopic examination of bacterial cultures revealed enhanced growth of "military" isolates on lactate-containing media, and showed that the "military" strains exhibited a hypersporulating phenotype.
conclusionsOur analysis revealed the genomic and phenotypic signatures of strain adaptation and deliberate selection for traits that were desirable in a simulant organism. Together, these results demonstrate the power of whole-genome and modern systems-level approaches to characterize microbial lineages to develop and validate forensic markers for strain discrimination and reveal signatures of deliberate adaptation.
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