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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, November 1999, p. 2648-2656, Vol. 43, No. 11
0066-4804/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Isolation of Polymyxin B-Susceptible Mutants of
Burkholderia pseudomallei and Molecular Characterization of
Genetic Loci Involved in Polymyxin B Resistance
Mary N.
Burtnick and
Donald E.
Woods*
Department of Microbiology and Infectious
Diseases, University of Calgary Health Sciences Center, Calgary,
Alberta, Canada T2N 4N1
Received 24 April 1999/Returned for modification 2 June
1999/Accepted 26 August 1999
Burkholderia pseudomallei is a gram-negative bacterium
that causes the disease known as melioidosis. This pathogen is endemic to Southeast Asia and northern Australia and is particularly
problematic in northeastern Thailand. It has been previously reported
that B. pseudomallei is resistant to the killing action of
cationic antimicrobial peptides, including human neutrophil peptide,
protamine sulfate, poly-L-lysine, magainins, and
polymyxins. Recently, we have also found that the virulent clinical
isolate B. pseudomallei 1026b is capable of replicating in
media containing polymyxin B at concentrations of >100 mg/ml. In order
to identify genetic loci that are associated with this particular
resistance phenotype, we employed a Tn5-OT182 mutagenesis
system in coordination with a replica plating screen to isolate
polymyxin B-susceptible mutants. Of the 17,000 Tn5-OT182
mutants screened via this approach, five polymyxin B-susceptible
mutants were obtained. Three of these mutants harbored
Tn5-OT182 insertions within a genetic locus demonstrating strong homology to the lytB gene present in other
gram-negative bacteria. Of the remaining two mutants, one contained a
transposon insertion in a locus involved in lipopolysaccharide core
biosynthesis (waaF), while the other contained an insertion
in an open reading frame homologous to UDP-glucose dehydrogenase genes.
Isogenic mutants were also constructed via allelic exchange and used in complementation analysis studies to further characterize the relative importance of each of the various genetic loci with respect to the
polymyxin B resistance phenotype exhibited by B. pseudomallei 1026b.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, University of Calgary Health
Sciences Center, 3330 Hospital Dr. N.W., Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N
4N1. Phone: (403) 220-2564. Fax: (403) 283-5241. E-mail:
woods{at}ucalgary.ca.
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, November 1999, p. 2648-2656, Vol. 43, No. 11
0066-4804/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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