Genomic landscape of antimicrobial resistance genes in Bacillus anthracis
Abstract
Detection of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is critical for an effective public health response to anthrax, but a complete catalog of AMR markers in Bacillus anthracis is lacking. Here we characterized the landscape of AMR-associated B. anthracis genes using complete CDC and public genomes (NCBI RefSeq, SRA). We identified 33 candidate AMR genes from literature analysis and AMR gene databases, and surveyed them for variants. All predicted AMR genes were chromosomal; twenty were relevant to antibiotics recommended for anthrax treatment, while 13 were associated with other antibiotics. Across candidates, conventional broth microdilution susceptibility testing only confirmed penicillin resistance (linked to sigP , rsiP variants). As expected, few markers predicted functional resistance since AMR in B. anthracis is exceedingly rare. Variant frequencies were generally low, but slightly higher in genes presumptively linked to tetracycline-, penicillin-, and macrolide-resistance. Variation across all 33 regions is reported and intended to establish non-AMR conferring natural variation across the sample sets. The results from this study were integrated in a previously published bioinformatics pipeline, PiMA, expanding the set of genes analyzed as well as providing context for natural variation unlikely to confer AMR phenotypes. While B. anthracis is largely clonal with limited genetic variation, the AMR gene catalog linked to functional susceptibility results offers a valuable, evidence-based resource that strengthens resistance prediction and anthrax readiness.
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BibTeX
@article{cordoba2026genomic,
title = {{Genomic landscape of antimicrobial resistance genes in Bacillus anthracis}},
author = {Luz K. Medina Cordoba and Vasanta Chivukula and Will A. Overholt and Julia V. Bugrysheva and Tucker Maxson and Pierre Michel and Thiphasone Kongphet-Tran and Blake Cherney and Heather P. McLaughlin and Lavanya Rishishwar and Andrew B. Conley and Aaron Villarma and Chung K. Marston and Jay E. Gee and Christopher A. Gulvik and Cari A. Beesley and Alex R. Hoffmaster and Zachary P. Weiner and David Sue},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1038/s41598-026-71179-w},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-71179-w},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Genomic landscape of antimicrobial resistance genes in Bacillus anthracis
AU - Luz K. Medina Cordoba
AU - Vasanta Chivukula
AU - Will A. Overholt
AU - Julia V. Bugrysheva
AU - Tucker Maxson
AU - Pierre Michel
AU - Thiphasone Kongphet-Tran
AU - Blake Cherney
AU - Heather P. McLaughlin
AU - Lavanya Rishishwar
AU - Andrew B. Conley
AU - Aaron Villarma
AU - Chung K. Marston
AU - Jay E. Gee
AU - Christopher A. Gulvik
AU - Cari A. Beesley
AU - Alex R. Hoffmaster
AU - Zachary P. Weiner
AU - David Sue
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/17
JO - Scientific Reports
DO - 10.1038/s41598-026-71179-w
UR - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-71179-w
AB - Detection of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is critical for an effective public health response to anthrax, but a complete catalog of AMR markers in Bacillus anthracis is lacking. Here we characterized the landscape of AMR-associated B. anthracis genes using complete CDC and public genomes (NCBI RefSeq, SRA). We identified 33 candidate AMR genes from literature analysis and AMR gene databases, and surveyed them for variants. All predicted AMR genes were chromosomal; twenty were relevant to antibiotics recommended for anthrax treatment, while 13 were associated with other antibiotics. Across candidates, conventional broth microdilution susceptibility testing only confirmed penicillin resistance (linked to sigP , rsiP variants). As expected, few markers predicted functional resistance since AMR in B. anthracis is exceedingly rare. Variant frequencies were generally low, but slightly higher in genes presumptively linked to tetracycline-, penicillin-, and macrolide-resistance. Variation across all 33 regions is reported and intended to establish non-AMR conferring natural variation across the sample sets. The results from this study were integrated in a previously published bioinformatics pipeline, PiMA, expanding the set of genes analyzed as well as providing context for natural variation unlikely to confer AMR phenotypes. While B. anthracis is largely clonal with limited genetic variation, the AMR gene catalog linked to functional susceptibility results offers a valuable, evidence-based resource that strengthens resistance prediction and anthrax readiness.
SN - 2045-2322
ER -