Biological characteristics and genetic evolutionary analysis of emerging pathogenic Bacillus cereus isolated from Père David's deer (Elaphurus davidianus)

Bacillus cereus (B. cereus) is widely distributed in the environment. It is one of the most common opportunistic food-borne pathogens associated with food poisoning, not only being majorly reported to cause fatal infections of the gastrointestinal tract, but also responsible for abdominal distress and vomiting. The current study was undertaken to evaluate the biological characteristics and the genetic evolution of B. cereus isolated from infected organs of dead Elaphurus davidianus (E. davidianus). B. cereus was characterized through antibiotic sensitivity tests, mouse lethality assay, whole genome sequencing analysis, and genome annotation. The results revealed that the isolated B. cereus strain was highly resistant to rifampicin, lincomycin, sulfamethoxazole, erythromycin, and ampicillin, with a high pathogenicity phenotype. KEGG annotation revealed that “metabolic pathways” had the largest number of unigenes, followed by “biosynthesis of secondary metabolites” and “biosynthesis of antibiotics”. GO analysis resulted in 8039 unigenes categorized. Meanwhile, 54,779 unigenes were annotated and grouped into 23 categories based on COG functional classifications. Moreover, one gene (codY) was found to be related to the host in conformity with the analysis done on PHI-base. Other tests led to the identification of 16 B. cereus virulence factor genes and five resistance types, with potential resistance against bacitracin, penicillin, and fosfomycin. We isolated a highly drug-resistant and pathogenic B. cereus strain from E. davidianus, showing that a variety of antimicrobial drugs should be avoided in clinical treatments. Furthermore, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report whole genome sequencing of a emergence of food-borne B. cereus strain isolated from E. davidianus deer; it will be helpful to extensively investigate the genetic and molecular mechanisms of drug resistance and pathogenesis about B. cereus in both humans and animals. •Bacillus cereus (B. cereus) is one of the most common opportunistic food-borne pathogens associated with food poisoning.•This is the first time to report whole genome sequencing of a B. cereus strain isolated from E. davidianus deer.•This study will be helpful to extensively investigate genetic and molecular mechanisms of drug resistance and pathogenesis.