VrrB, a hypervariable open reading frame in Bacillus anthracis.

ABSTRACT: Bacillus anthracis appears to be the most molecularly homogeneous bacterial species known. Extensive surveys of worldwide isolates have revealed vanishingly small amounts of genomic variation. The biological importance of the resting-stage spore may lead to very low evolutionary rates and, perhaps, to the lack of potentially adaptive genetic variation. In contrast to the overall homogeneity, some gene coding regions contain hypervariability that is translated into protein variation. During marker analysis of diverse strains, we have discovered a novel ca. 750-nucleotide open reading frame (ORF) that contains in-frame, variable-number tandem-repeat sequences. Four distinct variable regions exist within vrrB, giving rise to 11 distinct alleles in eight different length categories among B. an

SUBMITTER: Schupp JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC94584 | biostudies-literature | 2000 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature