Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) offers an alternative method for the detection of bacterial contamination in food. This method provides the quantitation and determination of the number of gene copies. In our study, we established an RT-PCR assay using the LightCycler system to detect and quantify the Bacillus cereus group species, which includes B. cereus, B. anthracis, B. thuringiensis, B...

The identification of Bacillus anthracis involves its differentiation from other aerobic sporeformers, particularly Bacillus cereus. Smith et al. (1952), in a study of aerobic sporeforming bacteria, concluded that B. anthracis is a pathogenic variety of B. cereus. They also stated that strains of B. anthracis which had lost their virulence could not be differentiated from B. cereus. This appare...

This study evaluated a direct multiplex PCR to detect food contamination with enterotoxigenic Bacillus cereus (B. cereus) in comparison with culture and multiplex gene detection using colonies. Detection of B. cereus enterotoxin genes was done on artificially contaminated and ready-toeat market foods including cooked rice, pasteurized milk and cheese. Of the 108 food samples analysed, 51(47.2 %...

According to the studies conducted, Bacillus cereus is a gram-positive aerobic bacterium which is able to produce spores. B. cereus is involved in formation of microflora. Currently, some strains of B. cereus are used as probiotics in animal and poultry feed. Genetic investigation is considered as an important objective of biotechnological and microbiological studies. This study compares the re...

The behaviour of the sporulating soil-dwelling Bacillus cereus sensu lato (B. cereus sl) which includes foodborne pathogenic strains has been extensively studied in relation to its various animal hosts. The aim of this environmental study was to investigate the water compartments (rain and soil water, as well as groundwater) closely linked to the primary B. cereus sl reservoir, for which availa...

Bacillus cereus is mainly known as a human food-borne opportunistic pathogen. Here, we used biological assays and HPLC to investigate the ability of B. cereus to produce insecticidal exotoxins during the stationary growth phase. None of the 575 B. cereus strains screened produced detectable levels of beta-exotoxin I, a small, heat-stable insecticidal nucleotide analogue. However, six out of a s...

The Bacillus cereus group of bacteria includes seven closely related species, three of which, B. anthracis, B. cereus and B. thuringiensis, are pathogens of humans, animals and/or insects. Preliminary investigations into the transport capabilities of different bacterial lineages suggested that genes encoding putative efflux systems were unusually abundant in the B. cereus group compared to othe...

An egg yolk-polymyxin medium (KG) for rapid enumeration of Bacillus cereus is described. The test is presumptive in that differentiation of B. cereus (and closely related organisms) from other species is based on the formation of turbidity in the agar surrounding the colonies of the cereus group organisms. The medium is formulated to encourage sporulation and release of free spores for serologi...

Bacillus anthracis is nonhemolytic, even though it is closely related to the highly hemolytic Bacillus cereus. Hemolysis by B. cereus results largely from the action of phosphatidylcholine-specific phospholipase C (PC-PLC) and sphingomyelinase (SPH), encoded by the plc and sph genes, respectively. In B. cereus, these genes are organized in an operon regulated by the global regulator PlcR. B. an...

Bacterial collagenases differ considerably in their structure and functions. The collagenases ColH and ColG from Clostridium histolyticum and ColA expressed by Clostridium perfringens are well-characterized collagenases that cleave triple-helical collagen, which were therefore termed as ´true´ collagenases. ColA from Bacillus cereus (B. cereus) has been added to the collection of true collagena...