Case Closed?

          In 2001 someone or some group took it upon themselves to put B. Anthracis spores into a couple of envelopes and send them off to various recipients. Five people were killed and seventeen were injured as a result of the attack and the nation was stunned at a never before seen type of biological terrorism. In early July 2008 the FBI had pinpointed a Microbiologist named Bruce Ivins as the key suspect in the attack by using a new technique called microbial forensics. Shortly after the notification of the impeding prosecution Bruce Ivins took his own life by overdosing on over the counter medications.
          In February 2011 almost three years after Bruce Ivins' suicide the FBI along with researchers at the Institute for Genome Sciences at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have published the first scientific paper based on the investigation into the anthrax attacks. Samples of B. Anthracis were taken from the envelopes to be cultured and closely inspected in the lab. Upon inspection it was noted that there were distinct morphological differences among each sample taken from the envelopes, four to be exact. Not only did each envelope contain four morphological varieties of B. Anthracis, but the four varieties were the same among all envelopes. Researchers then sequenced the genomes of the varied samples. First identifying all of them to be the Ames strain of B. Anthracis and next locating the loci which coded for the phenotypic mutations . When cross examined with over 1000 other samples of the Ames strain of B. Anthracis the morphological mutations were traced back to a single flask of spores known as RMR-1029. The flask was found to be under the care of a single Microbiologist, Bruce Ivins. After this discovery a complete criminal investigation was completed, and in conjunction with the scientific data found by the University of Maryland the FBI has now closed the case on the Anthrax attacks of 2001.
          Yet it seems that not all of the scientific community may be ready to agree with the FBI’s verdict. Within a week of the data being published scientists started reviewing it themselves and making their opinions known. They argue that the repository of samples screened was not complete and another lab or flask containing these phenotypic varieties can be out there. Also, for Mr. Ivins to produce the amount of B. Anthracis spores used in the attack would be impossible to complete alone and without being noticed by others. While the FBI maintains that the scientific data was not the entire case used against Mr. Ivins , but only a piece used in conjunction with their full criminal investigation. This is one of the first uses of the field of microbial genetics, unfortunately it seems to be off to a rocky start as far as the scientific community is concerned.