BACKGROUND An outbreak of severe nosocomial Burkholderia cepacia infections in patients admitted to intensive care unit (ICU), including investigation of the reservoir, is described. METHODS Over a period of 18 days, isolates of Burkholderia cepacia were recovered from different biological samples from five patients who were admitted to a multidisciplinary 18-bed intensive care unit. Isolatio...

The influence of growth rate and oxygen availability on siderophore, protease, and lipase production in Burkholderia cepacia was assessed for cells grown in a chemostat under iron limitation. Whereas siderophore and protease production increased with growth rate and oxygen yet decreased under oxygen depletion, lipase production demonstrated the opposite trend.

The ophD gene, encoding a permease for phthalate transport, was cloned from Burkholderia cepacia ATCC 17616. Expression of the gene in Escherichia coli results in the ability to transport phthalate rapidly into the cell. Uptake inhibition experiments show that 4-hydroxyphthalate, 4-chlorophthalate, 4-methylphthalate, and cinchomeronate compete for the phthalate permease. An ophD knockout mutant...

Burkholderia cepacia strain LO6 is a betaproteobacterium that was isolated from a cystic fibrosis patient. Here we report the 6.4 Mb draft genome sequence assembled into 2 contigs. This genome sequence will aid the transcriptomic profiling of this bacterium and help us to better understand the mechanisms specific to pulmonary infections.

Infection with Burkholderia cepacia complex in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) results in highly variable clinical outcomes. The purpose of this study was to determine if there are genomovar-specific disparities in transmission and disease severity. B. cepacia complex was recovered from 62 patients with CF on > or =1 occasions (genomovar III, 46 patients; genomovar II [B. multivorans], 19 pa...

A series of column experiments were performed using different bacterial inoculation scenarios to maximize the TCE-degrading potential of a multi-species biofilm. The single-species population dynamics of Burkholderia cepacia PR1 pTOM31c, a TCE-degrading microorganism unable to form a significant biofilm, were examined and compared to those of a dual-species population containing both B. cepacia...

The genus Burkholderia (β-Proteobacteria) currently comprises more than 60 species, including parasites, symbionts and free-living organisms. Several new species of Burkholderia have recently been described showing a great diversity of phenotypes. We examined the diversity of Burkholderia spp in environmental samples collected from Caatinga and Atlantic rainforest biomes of Bahia, Brazil. Legum...

The genus Burkholderia includes strains pathogenic to animals and plants, bioremediators, or plant growth promoters. Genome sequence analyses of representative Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) and non-Bcc strains for the presence of the bce-I gene cluster, directing the biosynthesis of the exopolysaccharide (EPS) cepacian, further extended this previously described cluster by another 9 genes....

Plant roots and shoots harbor complex bacterial communities. Early seed and plantlet colonization plays a key role in determining which bacterial populations will successfully invade plant tissues, yet the mechanisms enabling plants to select for beneficial rather than harmful populations are largely unknown. In this study, we demonstrate a role of oxalate as a determinant in this selection pro...