Potential Enterotoxicity of Phylogenetically Diverse Bacillus cereus Sensu Lato Soil Isolates from Different Geographical Locations

Abstract

This research offers a new route for a wider understanding of the dependency between pathogenicity and phylogeny of a natural bacterial population, specifically within Bacillus cereus sensu lato , that is widely distributed around the world and easily transferred into food products. Our study indicates differences in the phylogenetic and geographical distributions of potential enterotoxigenic B. cereus sensu lato strains. Hence, these bacilli possess a risk for human health, and rapid testing methods for their identification are greatly needed. In particular, the detection of the CytK enterotoxin should be a supporting strategy for the identification of pathogenic B. cereus sensu lato .