Accurate and rapid identification of the Burkholderia pseudomallei near-neighbour, Burkholderia ubonensis, using real-time PCR

Price, Erin P. and Sarovich, Derek S. and Webb, Jessica R. and Ginther, Jennifer L. and Mayo, Mark and Cook, James M. and Seymour, Meagan L. and Kaestli, Mirjam and Theobald, Vanessa and Hall, Carina M. and Busch, Joseph D. and Foster, Jeffrey T. and Keim, Paul and Wagner, David M. and Tuanyok, Apichai and Pearson, Talima R. and Currie, Bart J. (2013) Accurate and rapid identification of the Burkholderia pseudomallei near-neighbour, Burkholderia ubonensis, using real-time PCR. PLoS ONE, 8 (8). e71647. ISSN 1932-6203

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Abstract

Burkholderia ubonensis is an environmental bacterium belonging to the Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc), a group of genetically related organisms that are associated with opportunistic but generally nonfatal infections in healthy individuals. In contrast, the near-neighbour species Burkholderia pseudomallei causes melioidosis, a disease that can be fatal in up to 95% of cases if left untreated. B. ubonensis is frequently misidentified as B. pseudomallei from soil samples using selective culturing on Ashdown’s medium, reflecting both the shared environmental niche and morphological similarities of these species. Additionally, B. ubonensis shows potential as an important biocontrol agent in B. pseudomallei-endemic regions as certain strains possess antagonistic properties towards B. pseudomallei. Current methods for characterising B. ubonensis are laborious, time-consuming and costly, and as such this bacterium remains poorly studied. The aim of our study was to develop a rapid and inexpensive real-time PCR-based assay specific for B. ubonensis. We demonstrate that a novel B. ubonensis-specific assay, Bu550, accurately differentiates B. ubonensis from B. pseudomallei and other species that grow on selective Ashdown’s agar. We anticipate that Bu550 will catalyse research on B. ubonensis by enabling rapid identification of this organism from Ashdown’s-positive colonies that are not B. pseudomallei.

Item Type:	Article
ID number or DOI:	10.1371/journal.pone.0071647
Keywords:	Applied microbiology; Bacterial diseases; Bacterial genetics; Bacterial pathogens; Biology; Burkholderia cepacia complex; Burkholderia pseudomallei; Comparative genomics; Genome analysis tools; Genome databases; Genome sequencing; Genomics; Gram negative; Infectious diseases; Medicine; Microbial control; microbial ecology; Microbial pathogens; Microbiology; Polymerase chain reaction; Research Article; Sequence databases; species
Subjects:	Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology Q Science > QH Natural history > QH426 Genetics
NAU Depositing Author Academic Status:	Faculty/Staff
Department/Unit:	Research Centers > Center for Microbial Genetics and Genomics
Date Deposited:	16 Oct 2015 18:02
URI:	http://openknowledge.nau.edu/id/eprint/1703

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