Study of the Genetic Diversity of the Anthrax Microbe Strains from the Collection of SRC AMB

Data on VNTR typing of anthrax strains from SRC AMB collection are presented. 25 Bacillus anthracis strains of different origin and isolated in different territories have been analyzed. Application of the typing scheme of P.Keim et al . enabled to correlate Russian strains with strains of other collections. 4 new alleles: Dakkar-VrrA(296), 157-VrrB2(180), Dakkar-VrrC2(478) and M-29-pXO1(138) were determined. Major part of the strains refers to the A group (the size of VrrB1 fragment is 229 b.p.) and only two strains (1051 and 157) possess VrrB1 fragment of 229 b.p. The following strains of SRC AMB collection: 1 Kolomna, Ch-7, 15, M-29, 34, 81/1, 157, 228, 1051 and Dakkar do not go in any of 89 genotypes described by P.Keim et al . Genetic diversity of the anthrax strains isolated from different sources and presented in SRC AMB collection is shown.