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Genomics of Bacillus Species

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Genomics of Foodborne Bacterial Pathogens

Part of the book series: Food Microbiology and Food Safety ((FMFS))

Abstract

Members of the genus Bacillus are rod-shaped spore-forming bacteria belonging to the Firmicutes, the low G+C gram-positive bacteria. The Bacillus genus was first described and classified by Ferdinand Cohn in Cohn (1872), and Bacillus subtilis was defined as the type species (Soule, 1932). Several Bacilli may be linked to opportunistic infections. However, pathogenicity among Bacillus spp. is mainly a feature of bacteria belonging to the Bacillus cereus group, including B. cereus, Bacillus anthracis, and Bacillus thuringiensis. Here we review the genomics of B. cereus group bacteria in relation to their roles as etiological agents of two food poisoning syndromes (emetic and diarrhoeal).

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Dr. Nicolas Tourasse for performing the phylogenetic analyses for Figs. 2.1 and 2.3.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, University of Oslo, 0316, Oslo, Norway

    Ole Andreas Økstad & Anne-Brit Kolstø

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  1. Ole Andreas Økstad
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  2. Anne-Brit Kolstø
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Correspondence to Ole Andreas Økstad or Anne-Brit Kolstø .

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  1. Dept. Food Science, Cornell University, Stocking Hall 116, Ithaca, 14853, New York, USA

    Martin Wiedmann

  2. National Center for Food Safety &, Technology, Illinois Institute of Technology, S. Archer Rd. 6502, Summit, 60501, Illinois, USA

    Wei Zhang

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Økstad, O.A., Kolstø, AB. (2011). Genomics of Bacillus Species. In: Wiedmann, M., Zhang, W. (eds) Genomics of Foodborne Bacterial Pathogens. Food Microbiology and Food Safety. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7686-4_2

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