Guanidine extracts of crude Bacillus anthracis cell wall were used to vaccinate BALB/c mice and to develop monoclonal antibody (MAb) to vegetative cell surface antigens. Two hybridomas selected during this study produced immunoglobulin M immunoglobulins, which appear to be directed to an epitope associated with the galactose-N-acetyl-D-glucosamine polysaccharide. Both demonstrated specificity i...

Introduction Spores of Bacillus and Clostridium species are metabolically dormant and extremely resistant to acute environmental stresses such as heat, desiccation, UV and γ-radiation, mechanical disruption, enzymatic digestion and toxic chemicals. In addition to the spore’s resistance to acute stress, spores can survive for extremely long periods in milder environmental conditions. Indeed, the...

We sought to identify proteins in the Bacillus anthracis spore, conserved in other strains of the closely related Bacillus cereus group, that elicit an immune response in mammals. Two high throughput approaches were used. First, an in silico screening identified 200 conserved putative B. anthracis spore components. A total of 192 of those candidate genes were expressed and purified in vitro, 75...

In this report, we present a draft genome sequence of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain B-1895. Comparison with the genome of a reference strain demonstrated similar overall organization, as well as differences involving large gene clusters.

We report here the draft genomes of three Bacillus anthracis strains isolated in France: 08-8_20 (A.Br.001/002), 99-100 (A.Br.011/009), and 00-82 (B.Br CNEVA). The total lengths of assemblies are 5,440,708 bp, 5,446,472 bp, and 5,436,014 bp for 08-8_20, 99-100, and 00-82, respectively.

Potentially, antigen-antibody reactions are a means for the specific identification of species. However, no such means are presently available to distinguish between cultures of Bacillus anthracis and Bacillus cereus (Brown et al., 1958 a, b). The serological investigations conducted have not exhausted all the possibilities for trial. Only serological studies comparing the vegetative phases of ...