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J. Bacteriol., Feb 1995, 1039-1052, Vol 177, No. 4
R Goldstein, L Sun, RZ Jiang, U Sajjan, JF Forstner and C Campanelli
One or more of five morphologically distinct classes of appendage pili were
determined to be peritrichously expressed by Burkholderia (formerly
Pseudomonas) cepacia isolated from disparate sources. B. cepacia-encoded
cblA pilin gene hybridization-based analysis revealed that one associated
class, cable (Cbl) adhesin type IIB. cepacia pili, correlates with
epidemically transmitted strains from a single cystic fibrosis (CF) center.
When only phenotypic assays were available, correlations between the source
and the pilus type were nonetheless observed: filamentous (Fil) type IIIB.
cepacia pili correlated with CF- associated nonepidemic isolates, spine
(Spn) type IVB. cepacia pili correlated with clinical (non-CF) isolates,
and spike (Spk) type VB. cepacia pili correlated with environmental
isolates. Further, Cbl, Fil, or Spk pili typically appear as an internal
framework for constitutively coexpressed, peritrichously arranged dense
mats of fine, curly mesh (Msh) type IB. cepacia pili. Constitutive
coexpression of dense mats of Msh type IB. cepacia pili in association with
a labyrinth of either Cbl, Fil, or Spk pili suggests possible cooperative
pilus interactions mediating adhesion-based colonization in the differing
environments from which the strains were isolated. Despite such
correlations, phylogenetic analyses indicate that with the exception of the
epidemically transmitted clusters of isolates, the remaining B. cepacia
strains from the other three sources exhibited an equal degree of genetic
relatedness independent of origin. As previously found for Escherichia
coli, this discrepancy could be accounted for by selection- driven, in vivo
horizontal transfer events between distantly related members of the species
B. cepacia, leading to the genetic acquisition of environmentally
appropriate adhesion-based colonization pilus operons.
Copyright © 1995, American Society for Microbiology
Structurally variant classes of pilus appendage fibers coexpressed from Burkholderia (Pseudomonas) cepacia
Section of Molecular Genetics, Maxwell Finland Laboratory for Infectious Diseases, Boston University School of Medicine, Massachusetts.
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