DefinePK

Abstract

Anthrax, caused by Bacillus anthracis, is a fatal disease and all the warm bloodedanimals are susceptible to this disease. Many livestock populated areas in Pakistan are endemic forAnthrax (Thappa and Karthikeyan 2001), therefore the livestock population is annually vaccinatedagainst Anthrax. Veterinary Research Institute (VRI) has been producing Anthrax Spore Vaccine(ASV) for a couple of decades. The current study was designed for molecular characterization of themicroorganism used for vaccine production (Bacillus anthracis Sterne strain) and its phylogeneticrelationship with related strains and Bacillus species. For this purpose, 16S rRNA gene was amplifiedand sequenced and was found 100% genetically similar to the reference sequence with respect to 16SrRNA gene. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that sequenced strain showed a close phylogenecity withBacillus anthracis strain 1144 and Bacillus anthracis strain V77-NP-1R. Moreover, the organism wasfound genetically closer to Bacillus cereus than to Bacillus mycoides and Bacillus thuringiensis withrespect to 16S rRNA gene sequence.