Ten years on from anthrax scare, analysis lags behind sequencing.

摘要

A decade ago this month, a micrbbiolpgist at Northern Arizona University, in Flagstaff, took a special deliyery tram trie US government, Federal investigators wanted the scientist, Paul. Keim, to identify the anthrax that appeared in lettersrnail'ed to news organizations and US lawmakers. Overnight, he used PCR to determine ttiat the anthrax sent was tne Ames strain, commonly" used in research-but that was just the beginning of a scientific investigation that would catapult the still wet-behind-the-ears science of microbial forensics to the foreftbrifof the"criminal inquiry.