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Review
. 2006 Nov;72(11):6865-75.
doi: 10.1128/AEM.01036-06. Epub 2006 Sep 15.

Environmental factors that affect the survival and persistence of Burkholderia pseudomallei

Timothy J J Inglis  1 , Jose-Luis Sagripanti
Affiliations
Review

Environmental factors that affect the survival and persistence of Burkholderia pseudomallei

Timothy J J Inglis et al. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2006 Nov.
No abstract available

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Figures

FIG. 1.
FIG. 1.
Phylogenic relationship. Minimum-evolution tree of B. pseudomallei and near-neighbor species (reproduced with permission from reference 17). The sequence types (STs) represent a unique allelic profile characterized from 147 isolates. The diagram was constructed from concatenated sequences of the multilocus sequence typing loci. The percentages for node recoveries in 1,000 bootstrap replicates are shown. The bar shows differences at 0.5% of nucleotide sites. The positions of B. pseudomallei ST10, whose genome was sequenced, and of B. mallei (ST40) are indicated by the arrows. The Oklahoma strain was isolated from a patient with suspected melioidosis in Oklahoma and was originally named B. pseudomallei. The position of B. cepacia genomovar III is indicated by a dotted line (see reference and www.sanger.ac.uk/Projects/B_cepacia/).
FIG. 2.
FIG. 2.
Colony formation. Mature colonies of B. pseudomallei on solid media: (a) B. pseudomallei NCTC 13177 showing characteristic wrinkling on Ashdown's selective agar (angled shot), (b) NCTC 13177 on B. pseudomallei selective agar, and (c) persistently mucoid strain B. pseudomallei BCC 11 on B. pseudomallei selective agar. Scale bars measure 0.5 cm (23).
FIG. 3.
FIG. 3.
Cellular appearance. Transmission electron microphotographs of B. pseudomallei showing prominent intracellular inclusions (white globules) of polyhydroxybutyrate (A) and a coccoid cell after being stressed at acid pH (pH 4) (B). The diameter of the cell is approximately 0.5 to 1.0 μm.
FIG. 4.
FIG. 4.
Melioidosis world distribution. The incidence of melioidosis is represented by the color code shown on the map (reviewed in reference 6). Epidemiology in Thailand as reported by Vuddhakul et al. (82) is represented. Areas showing nonrecorded cases (white regions) should not be assumed to be free of melioidosis since identification and reporting in the Americas, parts of Southeast Asia, and most of Africa are incomplete (6). Zones with higher incidences (red regions) may correlate with a higher awareness of melioidosis and more-developed laboratory diagnostic and surveillance infrastructure.
FIG. 5.
FIG. 5.
Effect of pH and salt. Bacteria were grown in trypticase-peptone-glycerol, overnight cultures were washed twice by centrifugation as described by Howard and Inglis (25), and the cells in the pellet were resuspended in cold sterile water at the indicated pH or NaCl concentrations. Panel A shows the divergence between B. pseudomallei colony counts and viable cells as detected by flow cytometry and supravital stains produced by incubation at low pHs. Panel B shows the same divergence between culturable cells and viable cells counted by flow cytometry of B. pseudomallei NCTC 13177 at various NaCl concentrations. Open boxes indicate bacterial counts in numbers of CFU/ml. Closed boxes indicate viable bacterial counts as detected by flow cytometry.
FIG. 6.
FIG. 6.
Effect of chlorine. Overnight cultures were washed twice by centrifugation and resuspended in cold sterile water before exposure to chlorine (24). (A) The longer-term survival of three strains of B. pseudomallei (diamonds, NCTC 13177; squares, NCTC10276; and triangles, BCC11) with exposure to 1 ppm chlorine in water. (B) Survival of B. pseudomallei NCTC 13177 with no prior (⧫) and prior (•) exposure to 100 ppm chlorine in water after subsequent exposure to 1 ppm chlorine. Error bars indicate standard errors of the means (24).
FIG. 7.
FIG. 7.
Persistence in amoeba. The arrow indicates a small cluster of SYTO-stained B. pseudomallei bacteria inside an Acanthamoeba astronyxis cyst. The two cysts in this picture are surrounded by a matted web of elongated B. pseudomallei cells. This preparation was photographed after 24 h of coculture (30).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ashdown, L. R., and R. W. Guard. 1984. The prevalence of human melioidosis in Northern Queensland. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 33:474-478. - PubMed
    1. Brieland, J. K., J. C. Fantone, D. G. Remick, M. LeGendre, M. McClain, and N. C. Engleberg. 1997. The role of Legionella pneumophila-infected Hartmannella vermiformis as an infectious particle in a murine model of Legionnaire's disease. Infect. Immun. 65:5330-5333. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Brook, M. D., B. Currie, and P. M. Desmarchelier. 1997. Isolation and identification of Burkholderia pseudomallei from soil using selective culture techniques and the polymerase chain reaction. J. Appl. Microbiol. 82:589-596. - PubMed
    1. Chambon, L. 1955. Isolement du bacille de Whitmore á partir du milieu extérieur. Ann. Inst. Pasteur 89:229-235. - PubMed
    1. Champagne, J. 2001. Personal communication.

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