title: Variation in flagellin genes and proteins of Burkholderia cepacia.
abstract: The majority of isolates of Burkholderia cepacia, an important opportunistic pathogen associated with cystic fibrosis, can be classified into two types on the basis of flagellin protein size. Electron microscopic analysis indicates that the flagella of strains with the larger flagellin type (type I) are wider in diameter. Flagellin genes representative of both types were cloned and sequenced to design oligonucleotide primers for PCR amplification of the central variable domain of B. cepacia flagellin genes. PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of amplified B. cepacia flagellin gene products from 16 strains enabled flagellin type classification on the basis of product size and revealed considerable differences in sequence, indicating that the flagellin gene is a useful biomarker for epidemiological and phylogenetic studies of this organism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Hales
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Hart
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Winstanley
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001482:Base Composition; D016956:Burkholderia cepacia / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005407:Flagella / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005408:Flagellin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D014644:Genetic Variation; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008970:Molecular Weight; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D005408:Flagellin