[Gene typing of Bacillus anthracis strains isolated on the territory of the countries of the Confederation of Independent States].

Thirty eight B. anthracis strains isolated on the territory of the former USSR from different sources at different periods were studied by the method of the multilocus analysis of 6 chromosomal and 2 plasmid regions of B. anthracis genome with a variable number of tandem repeats. The strains belonged to 18 different genotypes; of these, 14 genotypes were described for the first time. The analysis of the genetic relationship of the strains gave grounds to suggest that on this territory both closely related strains and strains whose genotypes were remote from those peculiar to the greater part of other strains could occur. The strains belonging to subgroup A1a of molecular variability were "endemic" for the European part of the former USSR. A modification of the method of gene typing was proposed, which permitted it to be made without the use of an automatic sequencer; this made it possible to greatly widen the circle of laboratories where this method of research could be used.