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Discrimination of Burkholderia (B.) pseudomallei and B. mallei from environmental B. thailandensis is challenging. We describe a discrimination method based on sequence comparison of the ribosomal protein S21 (rpsU) gene.The rpsU gene was sequenced in ten B. pseudomallei, six B. mallei, one B. thailandensis reference strains, six isolates of B. pseudomallei, and 37 of B. thailandensis. Further rpsU sequences of six B. pseudomallei, three B. mallei, and one B. thailandensis were identified via NCBI GenBank. Three to four variable base-positions were identified within a 120-base-pair fragment, allowing discrimination of the B. pseudomallei/mallei-cluster from B. thailandensis, whose sequences clustered identically. All B. mallei and three B. pseudomallei sequences were identical, while 17/22 B. pseudomallei strains differed in one nucleotide (78A>C). Sequences of the rpsU fragment of 'out-stander' reference strains of B. cepacia, B. gladioli, B. plantarii, and B. vietnamensis clustered differently.Sequence comparison of the described rpsU gene fragment can be used as a supplementary diagnostic procedure for the discrimination of B. mallei/pseudomallei from B. thailandensis as well as from other species of the genus Burkholderia, keeping in mind that it does not allow for a differentiation between B. mallei and B. pseudomallei.

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Burkholderia pseudomallei is the causative agent of melioidosis, an often fatal infection of humans and animals. The virulence of this pathogen is thought to depend on a number of secreted proteins, including the MprA metalloprotease. We observed that MprA is produced upon entry into the stationary phase, when the cell density is high, and this prompted us to study cell density-dependent regulation in B. pseudomallei. A search of the B. pseudomallei genome led to identification of a quorum-sensing system involving the LuxI-LuxR homologs PmlI-PmlR. PmlI directed the synthesis of an N-acylhomoserine lactone identified as N-decanoylhomoserine lactone. A B. pseudomallei pmlI mutant was significantly less virulent than the parental strain in a murine model of infection by the intraperitoneal, subcutaneous, and intranasal routes. Inactivation of pmlI resulted in overproduction of MprA at the onset of the stationary phase. A wild-type phenotype was restored following complementation with pmlI or addition of cell-free culture supernatant. In contrast, there was no significant difference between the virulence of a B. pseudomallei mprA mutant and the virulence of the wild-type strain. These results suggest that the PmlI-PmlR quorum-sensing system of B. pseudomallei is essential for full virulence in a mouse model and downregulates the production of MprA at a high cell density.

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Recently, several cases of melioidosis imported to Europe have been reported. The diagnosis of the acute or chronic infection remains challenging. This report describes an optimised protocol for fast and reliable DNA preparation for use in two different polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays, namely: (1) a seminested PCR assay targeting a genus specific sequence of the ribosomal protein subunit 21 (rpsU) gene and (2) a nested PCR assay targeting the gene encoding the filament forming flagellin (fliC). Various strains of Burkholderia spp, strains of closely related genera, and spleen tissue samples of experimentally infected mice were investigated. The combination of PCR and sequencing of the amplicons resulted in high sensitivity and specificity. These procedures may allow rapid, sensitive, and reliable detection of B pseudomallei DNA in routinely formalin fixed and paraffin wax embedded samples, thus providing a safe diagnostic tool and avoiding the cultivation of a risk group 3 agent. In addition, this method could be useful for retrospective histopathological investigations.

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Burkholderia pseudomallei is the etiological agent of melioidosis, a potentially fatal disease occurring in man and animals. The aim of this study was to investigate the pathophysiological course of experimental melioidosis, and to identify the target organs, in an animal model. For this purpose SWISS mice were infected intraperitoneally with the virulent strain B. pseudomallei 6068. The bacterial load of various organs was quantified daily by bacteriological analysis and by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based on a monoclonal antibody specific to B. pseudomallei exopolysaccharide (EPS). Electron microscopic investigation of the spleen was performed to locate the bacteria at the cellular level. In this model of acute melioidosis, B. pseudomallei had a marked organ tropism for liver and spleen, and showed evidence of in vivo growth with a bacterial burden of 1.6x10(9) colony forming units (CFU) per gram of spleen 5 days after infection with 200 CFU. The highest bacterial loads were detected in the spleen at all time points, in a range from 2x10(6) to 2x10(9) CFU g(-1). They were still 50-80 times greater than the load of the liver at the time of peak burden. Other investigated organs such as lungs, kidneys, and bone marrow were 10(2)-10(4)-fold less infected than the spleen, with loads ranging from 3x10(2) to 3x10(6) CFU g(-1). The heart and the brain were sites of a delayed infection, with counts in a range from 10(3) to 10(7) times lower than bacterial counts in the spleen. The EPS-specific ELISA proved to be highly sensitive, particularly at the level of those tissues in which colony counting on agar revealed low contamination. In the blood, EPS was detected at concentrations corresponding to bacterial loads ranging from 8x10(3) to 6x10(4) CFU ml(-1). Electron microscopic examination of the spleen revealed figures of phagocytosis, and the presence of large numbers of intact bacteria, which occurred either as single cells or densely packed into vacuoles. Sparse figures suggesting bacterial replication were also observed. In addition, some bacteria could be seen in vacuoles that seemed to have lost their membrane. These observations provide a basis for further investigations on the pathogenesis of the disease.

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The aim of this study was to assess protease production and virulence of various Burkholderia pseudomallei strains. Protease activity was evaluated in filtrates from cultures grown for 50 h in TSB Dialysate by azocasein hydrolysis, and expressed as absorbancy at 405 nm. Virulence was assessed in 8 weeks old SWISS mice, by intraperitoneal injection of 6-6 x 10(5) CFU, and the LD50 was calculated after 30 days by the method of Reed and Muench. The lethal activity was studied for five strains of B. pseudomallei and the type strains of Burkholderia pseudomallei, Burkholderia mallei, and Burkholderia cepacia. The three type strains appeared to be low protease producers (A405 = 0.11, 0.09 and 0.00, respectively) and avirulent. The two more virulent B. pseudomallei strains exhibited significantly different LD50, 3.5 x 10(2) (IPP 6068 VIR) versus 2.1 x 10(5) CFU/mouse (40/97), and protease activities (A405 = 0.046 and 0.79, respectively). Moreover, the avirulent parent of IPP 6068 (AG), was a better protease producer than the 6068 VIR strain, A405 = 0.26 versus 0.046. These results suggest that there is no correlation between virulence and level of exoproteolytic activity, when B. pseudomallei is injected to mice via the intraperitoneal route.

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Iron-exposed murine macrophages have a modified bactericidal activity as shown by previous observations. In order to assess the role of iron in macrophage activation, as measured by free radical production and by intracellular bacterial killing, murine peritoneal macrophages were cultivated in the presence of various sources of iron, human iron-saturated transferrin and ammonium ferric citrate, or iron chelators, Desferal, and human Apo-transferrin, and were infected with an enteropathogenic strain of E. coli. The release of nitrite (NO2-), and the production of superoxide anion (O2-) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) by the phagocytes were measured and compared to the production by uninfected macrophages. The synergistic action with murine r.IFN-gamma was also studied in the radical production reaction and for the bactericidal activity of macrophages. Our results show that in vitro phagocytosis of E. coli induced elevated production of NO2- and H2O2 by macrophages, and that oxygen derivatives were released independently of the presence of added iron or chelator. Despite a phagocytosis-related enhancement of NO2- release, reactive nitrogen intermediates (RNI) are not directly involved in the bactericidal mechanism, as revealed by increased intracellular killing owing to RNI inhibitors. Moreover, bacterial killing may depend on oxygen derivatives, as suggested by the effect of the antioxidant sodium ascorbate leading to both a diminished H2O2 production and a decreased bactericidal activity of macrophages.

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