The objective of the sequencing of the genome of the opportunistic human pathogen, Bacillus cereus F0837/76, is to compare this strain with three genomes of the cereus group which are already available (Bce ATCC14579, Bce ATCC10987, and B. anthracis Ames). Since the F0837/76 strain is the known strain which is closest to B. anthracis, although quite different (1-2 % divergence in nucleotides), this comparison should reveal the truly important differences between the lethal pathogen, B. anthracis and the toxic enteric pathogen, F0837/76.

Genoscope is therefore undertaking the random shotgun sequencing of Bacillus cereus F0837/76. Two plasmid libraries (with 3 and 10 kb inserts) and a miniBAC library (inserts of about 25 kb) will be constructed at Genoscope. Sequencing of the ends of the clones obtained should produce about 80,000 reads. The finishing of the genome sequence will be carried out by sequencing the products of LR PCR using the information available for related genomes. This stage will be performed by the collaborating laboratory.