title: Differential invasion of respiratory epithelial cells by members of the Burkholderia cepacia complex.
abstract: To investigate whether there are differences between members of the Burkholderia cepacia complex in their ability to invade human respiratory epithelial cells, 11 strains belonging to genomovars I-V were studied in an antibiotic protection assay using the A549 cell line. Strains belonging to genomovars II and III were more invasive than those of genomovars I, IV and V. There was also intra-genomovar variation in invasiveness. No correlation between invasiveness and other putative virulence factors of importance in B. cepacia infection in individuals with cystic fibrosis, cable pilus and B. cepacia epidemic strain marker was identified.
authors.affiliation: Division of Microbiology, School of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Keig
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ingham
authors.forename: P A R
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Vandamme
authors.forename: K G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Kerr
mesh_terms: D016956:Burkholderia cepacia / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006801:Humans; D020545:Respiratory Mucosa / Q000382:microbiology*; D013045:Species Specificity