Differential Mucoid Exopolysaccharide Production by Members of the
            <i>Burkholderia cepacia</i>
            Complex

Zlosnik, James E. A.; Hird, Trevor J.; Fraenkel, Monica C.; Moreira, Leonilde M.; Henry, Deborah A.; Speert, David P.

doi:10.1128/jcm.02273-07

Cited by 81 publications

(134 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…The variants and the environmental isolates of B. ambifaria produce more EPSs than the clinical isolates, a result that is in agreement with the data from Zlosnik et al (2008). In that study, 92.5% of the B. ambifaria environmental strains were frankly mucoid, whereas the clinical strain CEP0996 was not.…”

Section: Phase Variation and Adaptation In B Ambifaria L Vial Et Alsupporting

confidence: 81%

“…In that study, 92.5% of the B. ambifaria environmental strains were frankly mucoid, whereas the clinical strain CEP0996 was not. Interestingly, B. cenocepacia strains, the most virulent species of the Bcc, are generally nonmucoid (Zlosnik et al, 2008). This would suggest that EPS production is not a feature of CF lungs colonization, in contrast with P. aeruginosa.…”

Section: Phase Variation and Adaptation In B Ambifaria L Vial Et Almentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These tests gave similar results for the wild-type and the variant. b The capacity of B. ambifaria to elaborate EPS was determined as described by Zlosnik et al (2008). Results were obtained with API-ZYM strips, and for the other 19 substrates tested, no difference between the strains was observed.…”

Section: Pleiotropic Differences Of the B Ambifaria Hsj1 Variantmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The capacity of B. ambifaria to produce exopolysaccharides (EPSs) was determined as described by Zlosnik et al (2008).…”

Section: Phenotypic Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Phase variation has a role in Burkholderia ambifaria niche adaptation

et al. 2009

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Members of the Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc), such as B. ambifaria, are effective biocontrol strains, for instance, as plant growth-promoting bacteria; however, Bcc isolates can also cause severe respiratory infections in people suffering from cystic fibrosis (CF). No distinction is known between isolates from environmental and human origins, suggesting that the natural environment is a potential source of infectious Bcc species. While investigating the presence and role of phase variation in B. ambifaria HSJ1, an isolate recovered from a CF patient, we identified stable variants that arose spontaneously irrespective of the culture conditions. Phenotypic and proteomic approaches revealed that the transition from wild-type to variant types affects the expression of several putative virulence factors. By using four different infection models (Drosophila melanogaster, Galleria mellonella, macrophages and Dictyostelium discoideum), we showed that the wild-type was more virulent than the variant. It may be noted that the variant showed reduced replication in a human monocyte cell line when compared with the wild-type. On the other hand, the variant of isolate HSJ1 was more competitive in colonizing plant roots than the wild-type. Furthermore, we observed that only clinical B. ambifaria isolates generated phase variants, and that these variants showed the same phenotypes as observed with the HSJ1 variant. Finally, we determined that environmental B. ambifaria isolates showed traits that were characteristic of variants derived from clinical isolates. Our study therefore suggest that B. ambifaria uses phase variation to adapt to drastically different environments: the lung of patients with CF or the rhizosphere.

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Section: Phase Variation and Adaptation In B Ambifaria L Vial Et Alsupporting

confidence: 81%

Section: Phase Variation and Adaptation In B Ambifaria L Vial Et Almentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Pleiotropic Differences Of the B Ambifaria Hsj1 Variantmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The capacity of B. ambifaria to produce exopolysaccharides (EPSs) was determined as described by Zlosnik et al (2008).…”

Section: Phenotypic Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Phase variation has a role in Burkholderia ambifaria niche adaptation

et al. 2009

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“…The EPSs of Burkholderia species have recently been comprehensively reviewed (Goldberg, 2007). Recent studies (Zlosnik et al, 2008) have also challenged the previous belief that mucoid, EPS-producing colonial morphotypes of Bcc are rare in both environmental and clinical isolates (Govan & Deretic, 1996). Other studies have shown that mucoid Bcc isolates mostly synthesize one type of EPS, with a highly branched heptasaccharide repeating unit, which was named cepacian (Moreira et al, 2003;Sist et al, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 80%

Plant host and sugar alcohol induced exopolysaccharide biosynthesis in the Burkholderia cepacia complex

et al. 2008

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The species that presently constitute the Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) have multiple roles; they include soil and water saprophytes, bioremediators, and plant, animal and human pathogens. Since the first description of pathogenicity in the Bcc was based on sour skin rot of onion bulbs, this study returned to this plant host to investigate the onion-associated phenotype of the Bcc. Many Bcc isolates, which were previously considered to be non-mucoid, produced copious amounts of exopolysaccharide (EPS) when onion tissue was provided as the sole nutrient. EPS production was not species-specific, was observed in isolates from both clinical and environmental sources, and did not correlate with the ability to cause maceration of onion tissue. Chemical analysis suggested that the onion components responsible for EPS induction were primarily the carbohydrates sucrose, fructose and fructans. Additional sugars were investigated, and all alcohol sugars tested were able to induce EPS production, in particular mannitol and glucitol. To investigate the molecular basis for EPS biosynthesis, we focused on the highly conserved bce gene cluster thought to be involved in cepacian biosynthesis. We demonstrated induction of the bce gene cluster by mannitol, and found a clear correlation between the inability of representatives of the Burkholderia cenocepacia ET12 lineage to produce EPS and the presence of an 11 bp deletion within the bceB gene, which encodes a glycosyltransferase. Insertional inactivation of bceB in Burkholderia ambifaria AMMD results in loss of EPS production on sugar alcohol media. These novel and surprising insights into EPS biosynthesis highlight the metabolic potential of the Bcc and show that a potential virulence factor may not be detected by routine laboratory culture. Our results also highlight a potential hazard in the use of inhaled mannitol as an osmolyte to improve mucociliary clearance in individuals with cystic fibrosis.

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