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Comparison of protein sequence against database
Our Story
In pursuit of the lethal agent
You are working at the Center for Disease Control when blood samples
cross your desk taken from patients exhibiting symptoms of anthrax.
The patients are related by their place of work, and you suspect
a single causative agent.
Immediately you would want to find out what that agent is. You
follow the usual routine: PCR out a region of lef, the gene
encoding the lethal factor from Bacillus anthracis. You do
this first of all to see if the gene is present. The PCR gives a
fragment of the expected size, so there's little doubt about the
diagnosis of anthrax.
The second step is to sequence the fragment and compare it against
known sequences of the gene, hoping to get clues as to the specific
bacterium responsible. You can see the sequence of one of the samples
(DG47) by clicking here.
So far, so good. Now to find out which bacterium it belongs to. |
