At the annual meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB)/8th International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Conference (IUBMB) in Boston, Dr. Fraser discusses, for the first time, the significance of the discovery of anthrax toxin genes in a naturally occurring microbe other than Bacillus anthracis, the bacterium that causes anthrax. She also discusses how this discovery fits into the ongoing debate about how to deal with potential new biothreat agents.
The study, conducted with collaborators at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), found the anthrax toxin genes in a virulent strain of the soil bacterium Bacillus cereus that was isolated from a patient who was suffering from a pneumonia similar to inhalation anthrax. It is not yet known exactly how the anthrax toxin genes ended up in the B. cereus isolate, but the process is assumed to have been a natural one.
The discovery was first reported in the June 1, 2004 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The ASBMB meeting will be the first public forum in which Dr. Fraser will discuss the paper, of which she is senior author.
At the ASBMB presentation, Dr. Fraser will discuss the B. cereus study in the wider context of the comparative genomics of this family of bacteria and offer insights into the physiolo
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Contact: Sarah Goodwin
asbmb04@bellsouth.net
770-270-0989
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
14-Jun-2004