genetic characterization of bacillus anthracis 17 jb strain

background and objectives: bacillus anthracis is one of the most homogenous bacteria ever described. bacillus anthracis 17jb is a laboratory strain. it is broadly used as a challenge strain in guinea pigs for potency test of anthrax vaccine. material and methods: this work describes genetic characterization of b. anthracis 17 jb strain using the snps and mlva genotyping. results and conclusion: in snps typing, the originally french 17jb strain represented the a. br. 008/009 subgroup. in levy's genotyping method, 843, 451 and 864 bp long fragments were identified at aa03, aj03 and aa07 loci, respectively. in the vaccine manufacturer perspective these findings are much valuable on their own account, but similar research is required to extend molecular knowledge of b. anthracis epidemiology in persia.