Microbial Forensics: DNA FINGERPRINTING OF BACILLUS ANTHRACIS (ANTHRAX).

This article discusses microbial forensics and the use of DNA fingerprinting to identify a single strain of anthrax, (Bacillus anthracis) found in bioterrorism letters mailed in the U.S. in 2001. According to the authors, there are several differences between microbial forensics and human DNA fingerprinting including clonal versus sexual reproduction and rates of mutation. For human forensics, the U.S. FBI has developed the Combined DNA Index System using single tandem repeats of restricted fragment length polymorphism. For bacteria, amplified fragment length polymorphism by pulse-field gel electrophoresis led to a sequential sequencing of variable natural tandem repeats. Due to slow mutation rates, canonical single nucleotide polymorphism and progressive hierarchial resolving assay with nucleic acids was used to identify the Ames strain.