Affiliation:
1. Department of Microbiology, Institute of Plant Biology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
2. Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Abstract
ABSTRACT
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.
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Subject
Infectious Diseases,Immunology,Microbiology,Parasitology
Cited by
95 articles.
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