ABSTRACT
Bacillus anthracis causes the acute fatal disease anthrax, is a proven biological weapon, and is endemic in Georgia, where human and animal cases are reported annually. Here, we present whole-genome sequences of 10 historical B. anthracis strains from Georgia.
GENOME ANNOUNCEMENT
Bacillus anthracis causes cutaneous anthrax in humans and animals in Georgia and displays subspecies-specific differences in virulence, geographic distribution, and genetic diversity (1–3). Different molecular genotyping tools such as multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) and canonical single nucleotide polymorphisms (canonical SNPs) are used for genetic characterization of this organism (4, 5). In Georgia as well as other locations, SNPs are routinely used to subtype B. anthracis isolates and place them into a global phylogeographic context. We found two geographically distinct and relatively distant populations of B. anthracis that belong to different genetic groups defined by canonical SNPs (6). Five sequenced Georgian B. anthracis isolates belonged to the A.Br.013/015 clade and five to the A.Br.008/009 (Transeurasia) clade.
DNA fragment libraries were generated from genomic DNA according to the Illumina next-generation sequencing sample preparation method. B. anthracis DNAs were shredded by nebulization. The final size with an average of ca. 450 bp of the prepared libraries was determined by an Agilent 2100 bioanalyzer. Sequencing was performed using an Illumina 300 cycle sequencing kit on the MiSeq platform at NCDC Lugar Center in Tbilisi, Georgia. Obtained raw data of 150-bp length reads were analyzed using EDGE Bioinformatics (7). We assembled each draft genome using IDBA (7) in EDGE after quality trimming (standard parameters). Assemblies were aligned to the closest SNP subclade reference genomes, Ames ancestor and Sterne, for B. anthracis.
The draft genomes were annotated by utilizing the NCBI prokaryotic genomes automatic annotation pipeline (8) (PGAAP revision 3.3; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genomes/static/Pipeline.html).
Accession number(s).The whole-genome sequences for B. anthracis are available through GenBank under BioProject PRJNA336484 with the accession numbers listed in Table 1.
Strain identifying information and basic statistics on assemblies and annotations
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This study was funded by the Cooperative Research and Development Foundation (CRDF Global/GRDF, Minigrant award GMG 09/13), Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR, under DTRA CBD grant CBCALL12-DIAGB1-2-0194), and Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA).
The findings and opinions expressed herein belong to the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the WRAIR, the U.S. Army, the Department of Defense, or Los Alamos National Laboratory.
FOOTNOTES
- Received 2 March 2017.
- Accepted 16 March 2017.
- Published 11 May 2017.
- Copyright © 2017 Khmaladze et al.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
