NEWS OF THE WEEK SECURITY
ANTHRAX SLEUTHING Scientific team finds markers to use as forensic tools in event of future attacks
S
CIENTISTS HAVE EXPLOIT-
ed the tools of genomics and bioinformatics to cap ture genetic fingerprints that distinguish the Bacillus anthracis used in last October's Florida bioterror attack from a closely relat ed anthrax reference isolate. They found 60 subtle variations be tween the two, including differ ences in single nucleotides and in sets of repeated, inserted, or de leted sequences. These markers cannot finger the exact origin of the Florida isolate, which would help nab the perpetrator of last fall's bioterrorism. But researchers fromThe In stitute for Genomic Research (TIGR), Rockville, Md., led by ge neticist Timothy Read, and from Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, led by microbiologist Paul S. Keim, did determine that the Florida isolate and the Porton Down, U.K., reference isolate were derived from the Ames strain. That strain, isolated in 1981 from aTexas cow, was also used in letterdelivered attacks on Democratic Sens. Thomas A. Daschle (S.D.) and PatrickJ. Leahy (Vt.). The researchers have shared their data with the FBI, which is investigating last fall's anthrax outbreaks. Matthew S. Meselson, a Harvard University molecular biologist and bioweapons expert, doesn't think their data will "solve the investigation, but maybe it will point it in the right direction, provide a tip." In previous studies aimed at aid ing the FBI investigation, Keim's lab was not able to differentiate among several different Ames isolates. Then, however, Keim was searching for diversity using doz ens of markers rather than the whole genome, as he and the TIGR researchers now have. HTTP://PUBS.ACS.ORG/CEN
Bacillus anthracis Analysis of the Florida isolate genome was published in Science online May 9 (http:/Avwwscience mag.org/cgi/content/abstract/ 1071837vl). T I G R had already sequenced the complete genome
of the Porton isolate and will publish it later this year. Anthony S. Fauci, direc tor ofthe National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Dis eases, believes the anthrax comparative study can jump-start "future research on the genetic variation among anthrax bacterial strains." And, he adds, "gen erating genomic sequences for many different anthrax strains will allow us to dis tinguish among them at the single-nucleotide level." N I A I D plans to fund additional genomic analy- Fa U C i ses by T I G R and Northern Arizona University on another 14 anthrax strains or isolates. At about $140,000 per anthrax genome, whole-genome sequenc ing appears to offer a relatively inexpensive way of solving or de terring future bio terrorism. Still, Meselson cautions, much more work needs to be done before this approach can become a useful forensic tool.-LOIS EMBER
AWARDS
Chemists Win National Medal Of Science
T
hree chemists are among the 15 recipients of the National Medal of Science named last week by President George W. Bush. The chemists are Gabor A. Somorjai, professor of chemistry at the University of Cal ifornia, Berkeley; Ernest R. Davidson, professor of computational quantum chemistry at Indiana University, Bloomington; and Raymond Davis Jr., for merly of Brookhaven National Laboratory. Other recipients include Harold Varmus, president and CEO of the Memor ial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, and chemical engineer An dreas Acrivos, professor of science and engineering at City College of the City University of New York. The National Medal of Science is the nation's highest award for lifetime achievement in fields of scientific research. "Each one of these individuals has helped advance our country's place as leader in discovery, creativity, and technology," President Bush said. "Their contributions have touched all of our lives and will continue to do so in the future." Somorjai's research in chemistry has two major aims: to determine the surface structure and chemical bonding of metals, ionic solids, adsorbed or ganic monolayers, and polymers; and to apply the knowledge to understand ing, on the molecular level, important macroscopic surface phenomena. Davidson, a colleague has said, "is a quantum chemist's quantum chemist." He is a leader in the field who has made advancements in innu merable areas from density functional theory to electron momentum spec-
Somorjai
Davidson
troscopy.-WILLIAM SCHULZ
C&EN
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MAY 13. 2002
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