Bacillus anthracis is a spore-forming bacterium and the causative agent of the disease anthrax. The Oxford Protein Production Facility has been targeting proteins from B. anthracis in order to develop high-throughput technologies within the Structural Proteomics in Europe project. As part of this work, the structure of 5-formyltetrahydrofolate cyclo-ligase (BA4489) has been determined by X-ray ...

This study evaluated the ability of spore-forming Bacillus spp. to resist milk pasteurization conditions from 72 to 150 degrees C. Spores from the avirulent surrogate Sterne strain of Bacillus anthracis, as well as a representative strain of a common milk contaminant that is also a pathogen, Bacillus cereus ATCC 9818, were heated at test temperatures for up to 90 min in dH2O, brain heart infusi...

Previously, we reported hyperpolarized 129Xe chemical exchange saturation transfer (Hyper-CEST) NMR techniques for the ultrasensitive (i.e., 1 picomolar) detection of xenon host molecules known as cryptophane. Here, we demonstrate a more general role for Hyper-CEST NMR as a spectroscopic method for probing nanoporous structures, without the requirement for cryptophane or engineered xenon-bindin...

Bacillus anthracis, the etiological agent of anthrax, is a gram-positive, spore-forming bacterium. The inhalational form of anthrax is the most severe and is associated with rapid progression of the disease and the outcome is frequently fatal. Transfer from the respiratory epithelium to regional lymph nodes appears to be an essential early step in the establishment of infection. This transfer i...

We sought to visualize the site of Bacillus anthracis spore germination in vivo. For that purpose, we constructed a reporter plasmid with the lux operon under control of the spore small acid-soluble protein B (sspB) promoter. In B. subtilis, sspB-driven synthesis of luciferase during sporulation results in incorporation of the enzyme in spores. We observed that B. anthracis Sterne transformed w...

In 1993, the Aum Shinrikyo cult aerosolized Bacillus anthracis spores over Kameido, Japan. Spore samples were obtained from the release site, cultured, and characterized by molecular genetic typing. The isolates were consistent with strain Sterne 34F2, which is used in Japan for animal prophylaxis against anthrax.

Anthrax lethal toxin (LT), one of the primary virulence factors of Bacillus anthracis, causes anthrax-like symptoms and death in animals. Experiments have indicated that levels of erythrocytopenia and hypoxic stress are associated with disease severity after administering LT. In this study, the granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) was used as a therapeutic agent to ameliorate anthrax-L...

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a rod-shaped, Gram-positive soil bacterium that belongs to the phylum Firmicutes and genus Bacillus. It spore-forming bacterium. During sporulation, it produces wide range of crystalline proteins are toxic different orders insects. Sporulation, structure assembly, germination essential stages in cell cycle B. thuringiensis. The majority studies on these issues hav...

The Bacillus anthracis spore is the causative agent of the disease anthrax. The outermost structure of the B. anthracis spore, the exosporium, is a shell composed of approximately 20 proteins. The function of the exosporium remains poorly understood and is an area of active investigation. In this study, we analyzed the previously identified but uncharacterized exosporium protein ExsK. We found ...

Bacillus anthracis, a gram-positive, spore-forming bacterium, is the etiological agent of anthrax. The gene coding for the S-layer protein (sap) was cloned on two contiguous fragments in Escherichia coli, and the complete sequence of the structural gene was determined. The protein, Sap, is composed of 814 residues, including a classical prokaryotic 29-amino-acid signal peptide. The mature form ...