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Vol 57(2023) N 4 p. 604-615; DOI 10.1134/S0026893323040167 T.A. Smirnova1, N.B. Polyakov1,2* D.S. Karpov3, A.I. Solovyev1, N.V. Shevlyagina1, S.G. Andreevskaya1, D.N. Shcherbinin1, Z.S. Plieva1, V.A. Kozlova1, A.A. Pereborova1, I.A. Bogdanov1,4, D.A. Grumov1, M.V. Zubasheva1, S.V. Poddubko5, A.A. Grechnikov2, M.A. Sukhina6, V.G. Zhukhovitsky1,7 Identification of Clinical Isolates of the Bacillus cereus Group and Their Characterization by Mass Spectrometry and Electron Microscopy 1Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, Ministry of Public Health of the Russian Federation, Moscow, 123098 Russia2Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119334 Russia 3Center for Precision Genome Editing and Genetic Technologies for Biomedicine, Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119991 Russia 4Nanopromimport LLC, Moscow State University Science Park, Moscow, 119234 Russia 5State Scientific Center of the Russian Federation, Institute of Bio-Medical Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 123007 Russia 6Ryzhikh State Research Center of Coloproctology, Ministry of Public Health, Moscow, 123423 Russia 7Russian Medical Academy of Continuing Professional Education (RMANPO), Ministry of Public Health of the Russian Federation, Moscow, 125993 Russia *polyakovnb@gmail.com Received - 2022-11-14; Revised - 2022-12-23; Accepted - 2022-12-30 Bacillus cereus is a spore-forming bacterium found in the environment mainly in soil. Bacillus spores are known to be extremely resistant not only to environmental factors, but also to various sanitation regimes. This leads to spore contamination of toxin-producing strains in hospital and food equipment and, therefore, poses a great threat to human health. Two clinical isolates identified as B. cereus and B. cytotoxicus were used in the present work. It was shown that their calcium ion content was significantly lower than that of the reference strains. According to electron microscopy, one of the SRCC 19/16 isolates has an enlarged exosporium, and the SRCC 1208 isolate has large electron-dense inclusions of an unclear nature during sporulation. We can assume that these contain a biologically active component with a cytotoxic effect and possibly play a role in pathogenesis. Comparative chemical, biochemical, physiological, and ultrastructural analysis of spores of clinical isolates and reference strains of B. cereus was performed. The results we obtained deepen our understanding of the properties of spores that contribute to the increased pathogenicity of B. cereus group species. Bacillus cereus, Bacillus cytotoxicus, spore, electron microscopy, mass spectrometry |