Evidence for the presence in Burkholderia pseudomallei of a type III secretion system-associated gene cluster.
Burkholderia pseudomallei, the causative agent of melioidosis, contains a cluster of putative genes homologous to those encoding HpaP, HrcQ, HrcR, HrcS and HrpV in the plant pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum. In R. solanacearum, these genes form part of a type III secretion-associated pathogenicity island. The order of the genes in B. pseudomallei is directly equivalent to that found in R. solanacearum. The B. pseudomallei proteins share 49.5% (HpaP), 52.6% (HrcQ), 80.0% (HrcR), 72.1% (HrcS) and 46.7% (HrpV) similarity, respectively, with their equivalent R. solanacearum proteins. The presence of type III secretion-associated genes in B. pseudomallei pathogens suggests a possible role for type III secretion systems in the pathogenicity of this organism.
Winstanley
C
C
Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD7 1DP.
Hales
B A
BA
Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD7 1DP.
Hart
C A
CA
Department of Medical Microbiology and Genito-Urinary Medicine, University of Liverpool, PO Box 147, Liverpool L69 3BX.
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D016957:Burkholderia pseudomallei / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D003360:Cosmids / Q000235:genetics; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000737:chemistry; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel; D015723:Gene Library; D006801:Humans; D008554:Melioidosis / Q000382:microbiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013499:Surface Properties; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D017931:DNA Primers; D004269:DNA, Bacterial