The genetic and molecular basis of O-antigenic diversity in Burkholderia pseudomallei Lipopolysaccharide

Tuanyok, Apichai and Stone, Joshua K. and Mayo, Mark and Kaestli, Mirjam and Gruendike, Jeffrey and Georgia, Shalamar and Warrington, Stephanie and Mullins, Travis and Allender, Christopher J. and Wagner, David M. and Chantratita, Narisara and Peacock, Sharon J. and Currie, Bart J. and Keim, Paul (2012) The genetic and molecular basis of O-antigenic diversity in Burkholderia pseudomallei Lipopolysaccharide. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 6 (1). e1453. ISSN 1935-2727

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Abstract

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is one of the most important virulence and antigenic components of Burkholderia pseudomallei, the causative agent of melioidosis. LPS diversity in B. pseudomallei has been described as typical, atypical or rough, based upon banding patterns on SDS-PAGE. Here, we studied the genetic and molecular basis of these phenotypic differences. Bioinformatics was used to determine the diversity of genes known or predicted to be involved in biosynthesis of the Oantigenic moiety of LPS in B. pseudomallei and its near-relative species. Multiplex-PCR assays were developed to target diversity of the O-antigen biosynthesis gene patterns or LPS genotypes in B. pseudomallei populations. We found that the typical LPS genotype (LPS genotype A) was highly prevalent in strains from Thailand and other countries in Southeast Asia, whereas the atypical LPS genotype (LPS genotype B) was most often detected in Australian strains (∼13.8%). In addition, we report a novel LPS ladder pattern, a derivative of the atypical LPS phenotype, associated with an uncommon O-antigen biosynthesis gene cluster that is found in only a small B. pseudomallei sub-population. This new LPS group was designated as genotype B2. We also report natural mutations in the O-antigen biosynthesis genes that potentially cause the rough LPS phenotype. We postulate that the diversity of LPS may correlate with differential immunopathogenicity and virulence among B. pseudomallei strains.

Item Type:	Article
ID number or DOI:	10.1371/journal.pntd.0001453
Keywords:	Burkholderia pseudomallei; genome sequencing; Melioidosis; genome variance;
Subjects:	Q Science > QR Microbiology
NAU Depositing Author Academic Status:	Faculty/Staff
Department/Unit:	College of Engineering, Forestry, and Natural Science > Biological Sciences
Date Deposited:	18 Oct 2015 19:35
URI:	http://openknowledge.nau.edu/id/eprint/1748

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