University of Maryland researchers developed a genetic 'fingerprinting' tool that is available online for law enforcement departments looking to track down microbial suspects. This is the first time that researchers have been allowed to speak on this subject after the 2001 deadly letter attacks.

Director of the Maryland Centre for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (CBCB), Mr. Steven Salzberg, said, “We found unique bio-markers to help investigators track down the source of the anthrax”. The study has already appeared in the publication known as Proceedings of national Academy of Sciences.

Mr. Salzberg went on to say that at first they had thought that the mutations were a little elusive in the beginning. They had previously thought that they had been able to piece the jigsaw puzzle together neatly; however, everything fell apart and they ended up with a complete mess.

Mr. Salzberg's colleague and study co-author, Mihai Pop, informed that anthrax bacteria mutate relatively slowly and that is the reason why such colonies developed slowly. For the study, experts at the University of Maryland had sequenced the DNA of bacterial samples.

Following a computer analysis of samples, they were able to identify the DNA changes that the FBI could use to identify anthrax.