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Infection and Immunity, September 2004, p. 5253-5261, Vol. 72, No. 9
0019-9567/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.72.9.5253-5261.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Population Structure of the Bacillus cereus Group as Determined by Sequence Analysis of Six Housekeeping Genes and the plcR Gene

Kwan Soo Ko,^1, Jong-Wan Kim,² Jong-Man Kim,² Wonyong Kim,³ Sang-in Chung,³ Ik Jung Kim,⁴ and Yoon-Hoh Kook^1*

Department of Microbiology and Cancer Research Institute, Institute of Endemic Diseases, SNUMRC, Seoul National University College of Medicine, and Clinical Research Institute, Seoul National University Hospital,¹ Department of Microbiology, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine and Institute of Medical Research, Seoul,³ Animal Disease Research Department, National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service, Kyunggi Province,² Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Dongguk University, Gyungju, Korea⁴

Received 7 November 2003/ Returned for modification 9 February 2004/ Accepted 13 May 2004

The population structure of the Bacillus cereus group (52 strains of B. anthracis, B. cereus, and B. thuringiensis) was investigated by sequencing seven gene fragments (rpoB, gyrB, pycA, mdh, mbl, mutS, and plcR). Most of the strains were classifiable into two large subgroups in six housekeeping gene trees but not in the plcR tree. In addition, several consistent clusters were identified, which were unrelated to species distinction. Moreover, interrelationships among these clusters were incongruent in each gene tree. The incongruence length difference test and split decomposition analyses also showed incongruences between genes, suggesting horizontal gene transfer. The plcR gene was observed to have characteristics that differed from those of the other genes in terms of phylogenetic topology and pattern of sequence diversity. Thus, we suggest that the evolutionary history of the PlcR regulon differs from those of the other chromosomal genes and that recombination of the plcR gene may be frequent. The homogeneity of B. anthracis, which is depicted as an independent lineage in phylogenetic trees, is suggested to be of recent origin or to be due to the narrow taxonomic definition of species.

Editor: V. J. DiRita

Present address: Asian-Pacific Research Foundation for Infectious Diseases and Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

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