Abstract
Bacillus cereus, Bacillus anthracis, and Bacillus thuringiensis comprise the Bacillus cereus complex. They are more related to one another than to all other Bacillus species. Bacillus anthracis causes anthrax and there are different forms of the disease: cutaneous, inhalation, and injection. If used as a bioweapon, Bacillus anthracis will cause a fatal inhalation anthrax. The key virulence factors are the plasmid-encoded capsule and components of the oedema toxin and the lethal toxin. Bacillus cereus can cause two types of food poisoning: diarrhoeal disease and emetic disease. Emetic disease is caused by a plasmid-encoded toxin, cereulide. Diarrhoeal disease is caused by three chromosomally encoded toxins. Bacillus thuringiensis strains produce a number of plasmid-encoded toxins that are insecticidal. Different toxins are lethal for different insects. The parent of the Bacillus cereus complex most likely was a diarrhoeal strain of Bacillus cereus because it has no plasmid-borne toxins. This strain then acquired different plasmids to generate the different pathogens in the complex as we know it today.
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