Spanish Outbreak Isolates Bridge Phylogenies of European and American Bacillus anthracis.

ABSTRACT: The geographical origin of a major present-day phylogenetic group (A branch WNA; A.Br.WNA) of American Bacillus anthracis is controversial. One hypothesis postulated that the anthrax pathogen reached North America via a then-existing land bridge from northeastern Asia thousands of years ago. A competing hypothesis suggested that B. anthracis was introduced to America a couple of hundred years ago, related to European colonization. The latter view is strongly supported by genomic analysis of a group of French B. anthracis isolates that are phylogenetically closely related to the North American strains of the A branch A.Br.WNA clade. In addition, three West African strains also belong to this relationship group. Recently, we have added a Spanish strain to these close rel

SUBMITTER: Bassy O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10146487 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature