Some bacterial species are incredibly rare…so rare, that they’ve only been isolated one time! 💎 The Bacillus cereus group is a group of closely related species, which vary in terms of their geographic spread, industrial utility, and pathogenic potential. In addition to encompassing well-known species represented by thousands of genomes (e.g., bioterrorism agent B. anthracis, foodborne pathogen B. cereus, biopesticide B. thuringiensis), the B. cereus group houses several “rare” species…which, despite being discovered over a decade ago, haven’t been seen since! 🫥 Because of this, we know virtually NOTHING about these rare species! For example, can they make us sick? 🤢 Or are they useful in industry or agriculture? 🐛

In our latest study, we went on the hunt for these rare B. cereus group species! 🔎 More specifically, we hypothesized that the DNA of rare B. cereus group species may already be present in public (meta)genomic databases…just not in a format where we’d be able to recognize them! 🥸 To test this, we used new computational methods to search massive (meta)genomic databases for “signatures” of rare B. cereus group species. 🫆 Using these new methods, we were able to uncover representatives of 2 rare species: the elusive B. manliponensis and B. bingmayongensis! 💎

Overall, our study represents a critical first step toward understanding rare B. cereus group species. 🥸 You can check out the preprint for yourself here! ⭐