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Nature 423, 87-91 (1 May 2003) | doi:10.1038/nature01582; Received 13 August 2002; Accepted 21 March 2003

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Genome sequence of Bacillus cereus and comparative analysis with Bacillus anthracis

Natalia Ivanova1, Alexei Sorokin2, Iain Anderson1, Nathalie Galleron2, Benjamin Candelon2, Vinayak Kapatral1, Anamitra Bhattacharyya1, Gary Reznik3, Natalia Mikhailova1, Alla Lapidus1, Lien Chu1, Michael Mazur1,4, Eugene Goltsman1, Niels Larsen1, Mark D'Souza1, Theresa Walunas1, Yuri Grechkin1, Gordon Pusch1, Robert Haselkorn1, Michael Fonstein1, S. Dusko Ehrlich2, Ross Overbeek1 & Nikos Kyrpides1

  1. Integrated Genomics, Chicago, Illinois 60612, USA
  2. Génétique Microbienne, Centre de Recherche de Jouy-en-Josas, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, 78352 Jouy en Josas cedex, France
  3. Life Sciences Operation, Illinois Institute of Technology Research Institute, Chicago, Illinois 60616, USA
  4. Deceased

Correspondence to: Natalia Ivanova1 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to N.I. (Email: ivanova@integratedgenomics.com). The complete genome sequence of B. cereus ATCC 14579 has been deposited in GenBank at accession numbers AE016877 (chromosome) and AE016878 (plasmid).

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Bacillus cereus is an opportunistic pathogen causing food poisoning manifested by diarrhoeal or emetic syndromes1. It is closely related to the animal and human pathogen Bacillus anthracis and the insect pathogen Bacillus thuringiensis, the former being used as a biological weapon and the latter as a pesticide. B. anthracis and B. thuringiensis are readily distinguished from B. cereus by the presence of plasmid-borne specific toxins (B. anthracis and B. thuringiensis) and capsule (B. anthracis). But phylogenetic studies based on the analysis of chromosomal genes bring controversial results, and it is unclear whether B. cereus, B. anthracis and B. thuringiensis are varieties of the same species2 or different species3, 4. Here we report the sequencing and analysis of the type strain B. cereus ATCC 14579. The complete genome sequence of B. cereus ATCC 14579 together with the gapped genome of B. anthracis A20125 enables us to perform comparative analysis, and hence to identify the genes that are conserved between B. cereus and B. anthracis, and the genes that are unique for each species. We use the former to clarify the phylogeny of the cereus group, and the latter to determine plasmid-independent species-specific markers.

  1. Integrated Genomics, Chicago, Illinois 60612, USA
  2. Génétique Microbienne, Centre de Recherche de Jouy-en-Josas, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, 78352 Jouy en Josas cedex, France
  3. Life Sciences Operation, Illinois Institute of Technology Research Institute, Chicago, Illinois 60616, USA
  4. Deceased

Correspondence to: Natalia Ivanova1 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to N.I. (Email: ivanova@integratedgenomics.com). The complete genome sequence of B. cereus ATCC 14579 has been deposited in GenBank at accession numbers AE016877 (chromosome) and AE016878 (plasmid).