Identification of Specific and Universal Virulence Factors in Burkholderia cenocepacia Strains by Using Multiple Infection Hosts

Over the past few decades, strains of the Burkholderia cepacia complex have emerged as important pathogens for patients suffering from cystic fibrosis. Identification of virulence factors and assessment of the pathogenic potential of Burkholderia strains have increased the need for appropriate infec...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Infection and Immunity 2009-09, Vol.77 (9), p.4102-4110
Main Authors: Uehlinger, Susanne, Schwager, Stephan, Bernier, Steve P, Riedel, Kathrin, Nguyen, David T, Sokol, Pamela A, Eberl, Leo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal models
Animals
Bacteriology
Biological and medical sciences
Burkholderia cepacia
Burkholderia cepacia complex - metabolism
Burkholderia cepacia complex - pathogenicity
Caenorhabditis elegans
Cystic fibrosis
Epidemics
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Galleria mellonella
Infection
Lipopolysaccharides
Lipopolysaccharides - biosynthesis
Medicago sativa
Microbiology
Miscellaneous
Molecular Pathogenesis
Nematoda
Pathogenicity
Pathogens
Quorum Sensing
Rats
Siderophores
Siderophores - biosynthesis
Virulence
virulence factors
Virulence Factors - physiology
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Summary:Over the past few decades, strains of the Burkholderia cepacia complex have emerged as important pathogens for patients suffering from cystic fibrosis. Identification of virulence factors and assessment of the pathogenic potential of Burkholderia strains have increased the need for appropriate infection models. In previous studies, different infection hosts, including mammals, nematodes, insects, and plants, have been used. At present, however, the extent to which the virulence factors required to infect different hosts overlap is not known. The aim of this study was to analyze the roles of various virulence factors of two closely related Burkholderia cenocepacia strains, H111 and the epidemic strain K56-2, in a multihost pathogenesis system using four different model organisms, namely, Caenorhabditis elegans, Galleria mellonella, the alfalfa plant, and mice or rats. We demonstrate that most of the identified virulence factors are specific for one of the infection models, and only three factors were found to be essential for full pathogenicity in several hosts: mutants defective in (i) quorum sensing, (ii) siderophore production, and (iii) lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis were attenuated in at least three of the infection models and thus may represent promising targets for the development of novel anti-infectives.
ISSN:0019-9567
1098-5522
DOI:10.1128/IAI.00398-09