A Bacillus anthracis Genome Sequence from the Sverdlovsk 1979 Autopsy Specimens.

ABSTRACT: Anthrax is a zoonotic disease that occurs naturally in wild and domestic animals but has been used by both state-sponsored programs and terrorists as a biological weapon. A Soviet industrial production facility in Sverdlovsk, USSR, proved deficient in 1979 when a plume of spores was accidentally released and resulted in one of the largest known human anthrax outbreaks. In order to understand this outbreak and others, we generated a Bacillus anthracis population genetic database based upon whole-genome analysis to identify all single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across a reference genome. Phylogenetic analysis has defined three major clades (A, B, and C), B and C being relatively rare compared to A. The A clade has numerous subclades, including a major polytomy named the trans-Eurasian (

SUBMITTER: Sahl JW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5050339 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature