{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]],"date-time":"2026-10-15T19:25:23Z","timestamp":1792092323989,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,15]],"date-time":"2023-11-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1700006400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Microbiol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Characterization of the microbiomes of pre-launch spacecraft in spacecraft assembly facilities is an important step in keeping crews healthy during journeys that can last several hundred days in small artificial environments in space. <jats:italic>Bacillus cereus<\/jats:italic>, a foodborne pathogenic bacterium, has the potential to be a significant source of food contamination in such environments. This bacterium is a spore-forming bacteria that resists different antimicrobial treatments in cleanrooms where spacecraft are assembled. This study evaluated 41 <jats:italic>B. cereus<\/jats:italic> isolates from four pre-launch spacecraft in spacecraft assembly facilities for their toxin gene profile and antibiotic resistance. Four enterotoxin genes (<jats:italic>hlbC<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>cytK<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>nheA<\/jats:italic>, and <jats:italic>entFM<\/jats:italic>) and two emetic toxin genes (<jats:italic>ces<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>CER<\/jats:italic>) were targeted for chromosomal DNA and plasmid DNA. Results showed 31.7, 7.3, 85, and 41.5% of isolates contained <jats:italic>hblC<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>cytK<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>nheA<\/jats:italic>, and <jats:italic>entFM<\/jats:italic>, respectively, in chromosomal or plasmid DNA. Overall, 37 isolates (90.2%) showed at least one enterotoxin gene. The emetic toxin gene, <jats:italic>ces<\/jats:italic>, was detected in the plasmid DNA of three isolates (7.3%). The antibiotic resistance of isolates was evaluated by the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion procedure. All the isolates exhibited 100% susceptibility to gentamicin, 97% were susceptible to clindamycin, and 95% to chloramphenicol, imipenem, tetracycline, and vancomycin. The overall susceptibility average is 51%. However, 98% of the isolates were resistant to \u03b2-lactam antibiotics, 97.5% were resistant to sulfamethoxazole\/trimethoprim, and 80% were resistant to rifampin. This study provides important information on <jats:italic>B. cereus<\/jats:italic> isolates from spacecraft assembly facilities for use in microbial monitoring programs of spacecraft.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmicb.2023.1231726","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,15]],"date-time":"2023-11-15T09:20:25Z","timestamp":1700040025000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["Profiling toxin genes and antibiotic resistance in Bacillus cereus isolated from pre-launch spacecraft"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Barakatullah","family":"Mohammadi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Natalia","family":"Gorkina","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marco Esteban","family":"P\u00e9rez-Reyes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Stephanie A.","family":"Smith","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3389","DOI":"10.1093\/nar\/25.17.3389","article-title":"Gapped BLAST and PSI-BLAST: a new generation of protein database search programs","volume":"25","author":"Altschul","year":"1997","journal-title":"Nucleic Acids Res."},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"460","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijfoodmicro.2008.10.006","article-title":"Detection of toxigenic Bacillus cereus and Bacillus thuringiensis spores in U.S. rice","volume":"128","author":"Ankolekar","year":"2009","journal-title":"Int. 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