Query: NC_009674:3073564 Bacillus cytotoxicus NVH 391-98 chromosome, complete genome Lineage: Bacillus cytotoxicus; Bacillus; Bacillaceae; Bacillales; Firmicutes; Bacteria General Information: Isolated from a food poisoning outbreak in a nursing home for elderly people in France in March 1998. Under starvation conditions this group of bacteria initiate a pathway that leads to endospore formation, a process that is thoroughly studied and is a model system for prokaryotic development and differentiation. Spores are highly resistant to heat, cold, dessication, radiation, and disinfectants, and enable the organism to persist in otherwise inhospitable environments. Under more inviting conditions the spores germinate to produce vegetative cells. Bacillus cytotoxicus is a member of the Bacillus cereus group, which represents sporulating soil bacteria containing pathogenic strains which may cause food poisoning outbreaks.
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General Information: Soil microorganism that can cause food poisoning. This organism is a soil-dwelling opportunistic pathogen that causes food poisoning in infected individuals. There are two forms of food poisoning that occur, one is rapid onset (emetic) and the other is late onset (diarrheal). The rapid onset is characterized by nausea and vomiting while the late onset is characterized by diarrhea and abdominal pain. The emetic disease is caused by a small stable dodecadepsipeptide cerulide whereas the diarrheal disease is caused by a heat labile enterotoxin. Some strains produce a potent cytotoxin that forms a pore in the membrane of eukaryotic cells and causes necrotic enteritis (death of intestinal epithelial cells) while the unique tripartite membrane lytic toxin hemolysin BL contributes to the diarrheal disease and destructive infections of the eye.