title: Burkholderia cepacia Complex Regulation of Virulence Gene Expression: A Review.
abstract: Burkholderia cepaciacomplex (Bcc) bacteria emerged as opportunistic pathogens in cystic fibrosis and immunocompromised patients. Their eradication is very difficult due to the high level of intrinsic resistance to clinically relevant antibiotics. Bcc bacteria have large and complex genomes, composed of two to four replicons, with variable numbers of insertion sequences. The complexity of Bcc genomes confers a high genomic plasticity to these bacteria, allowing their adaptation and survival to diverse habitats, including the human host. In this work, we review results from recent studies using omics approaches to elucidate in vivo adaptive strategies and virulence gene regulation expression of Bcc bacteria when infecting the human host or subject to conditions mimicking the stressful environment of the cystic fibrosis lung.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences (IBB), and Department of Bioengineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal. sousasilvia@tecnico.ulisboa.pt.
authors.forename: Sílvia A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Sousa
authors.affiliation: Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences (IBB), and Department of Bioengineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal. joana.feliciano@tecnico.ulisboa.pt.
authors.forename: Joana R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Feliciano
authors.affiliation: Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences (IBB), and Department of Bioengineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal. t_pita@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Tiago
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pita
authors.affiliation: Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences (IBB), and Department of Bioengineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal. guerreiro.soraia25@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Soraia I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Guerreiro
authors.affiliation: Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences (IBB), and Department of Bioengineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal. jorgeleitao@tecnico.ulisboa.pt.
authors.forename: Jorge H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Leitão
keywords: Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc); adaptive strategies; cystic fibrosis (CF); post-genomic approaches