Revised approach for identification of isolates within the Burkholderia cepacia complex and description of clinical isolates not assigned to any of the known genomovars

Abstract

One hundred thirty-eight clinical isolates of the Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) were identified using a modified strategy that involved PCR detection of the cblA gene for the ET12 lineage simultaneously with detection of the Bcc recA PCR product; recA sequence cluster analysis also was part of the strategy. Four strains could not be assigned to any of the known genomovars.

FIG. 1.

Dendrogram comparing sequences of an 897-bp recA fragment of isolates belonging to the Bcc. Dotted lines indicate 98.5 and 97.6% similarity. Isolate designations are those given in the GenBank entry for the accession number cited. Example isolates from this study are labeled according to their identification, e.g., BCG1 1 is B. cepacia, BM1 to -3 are B. multivorans, and BC3B 1 to -3 are B. cenocepacia genomovar IIIB, and reference isolates are labeled with their LMG numbers. Isolates BCCU1 to BCCU4 represent strains that could not be assigned to any of the known genomovars.

FIG. 2.

PFGE profiles of XbaI-digested genomic DNA of isolates of genomovar IIIB (BC3B 1 to BC3B 8) received from the eight patients with this lineage during the study period. BC3B 6 and BC3B 7 were from siblings. All of the remaining isolates were from patients from different centers.