Fast Breaking Comment by Timothy Read

Timothy Read answers a few questions about this month's fast breaking paper in the field of Microbiology.

From •>>August 2003

Field: Microbiology
Article Title: "Comparative genome sequencing for discovery of novel polymorphisms in Bacillus anthracis"
Authors: Read, TD;Salzberg, SL;Pop, M;Shumway, M;Umayam, L;Jiang, LX;Holtzapple, E;Busch, JD;Smith, KL;Schupp, JM;Solomon, D;Keim, P;Fraser, CM
Journal: SCIENCE
Volume: 296
Page: 2028-2033
Year: JUN 14 2002
* Inst Genom Res, 9712 Ctr Dr, Rockville, MD 20850 USA.
* Inst Genom Res, Rockville, MD 20850 USA.
* No Arizona Univ, Dept Biol Sci, Flagstaff, AZ 86011 USA.

Why do you think your paper is highly cited?

I think there were several factors that came together. The paper deals with a strain of Bacillus anthracis that was used in the 2001 bioterror attack. This fact, and the exposure that comes with a Science publication, led to an enormous amount of publicity. Since 2001, a lot of scientists have focused their research on B. anthracis and this paper was the first to present whole-genome information. Furthermore, it is the first application of whole-genome information to derive genetic markers for forensic investigations.

Does it describe a new discovery or a new methodology that's useful to others?

The paper firstly shows that a whole genome approach to finding differences between very closely related strains is possible: there were doubts before the article that the purported background error rate of sequencing would make such studies impractical. The approach taken can definitely be adapted by other groups. However, there are not that many places in the world that could attempt this type of whole-genome sequencing approach at the moment.

Could you summarize the significance of your paper in layman's terms?

Using genome sequencing we can now find, theoretically, the smallest possible genetic differences between bacteria.

How did you become involved in this research?

Coincidentally, we were sequencing (and had almost completed) the genome of an Ames strain of B. anthracis before the attack.

Dr. Timothy Read, Ph.D.
Assistant Investigator
Microbial Genomics Group
The Institute for Genomic Research
Rockville, MD, USA

Read comments by Steven Salzberg; co-author of this Fast Breaking Paper.

ESI Special Topics, August 2003
Citing URL - http://www.esi-topics.com/fbp/2003/august03-TimothyRead.html