Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jun 29;15(6):e0009541.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0009541. eCollection 2021 Jun.

Burkholderia species in human infections in Mexico: Identification of B. cepacia, B. contaminans, B. multivorans, B. vietnamiensis,B. pseudomallei and a new Burkholderia species

Georgina Meza-Radilla  1 , Violeta Larios-Serrato  1 , Rigoberto Hernández-Castro  2 , J Antonio Ibarra  1 , Paulina Estrada-de Los Santos  1
Affiliations

Burkholderia species in human infections in Mexico: Identification of B. cepacia, B. contaminans, B. multivorans, B. vietnamiensis,B. pseudomallei and a new Burkholderia species

Georgina Meza-Radilla et al. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. .

Abstract

Background: Burkholderia sensu stricto is comprised mainly of opportunistic pathogens. This group is widely distributed in the environment but is especially important in clinical settings. In Mexico, few species have been correctly identified among patients, most often B. cepacia is described.

Methodology/principal findings: In this study, approximately 90 strains identified as B. cepacia with the VITEK2 system were isolated from two medical centers in Mexico City and analyzed by MLSA, BOX-PCR and genome analysis. The initial identification of B. cepacia was confirmed for many strains, but B. contaminans, B. multivorans and B. vietnamiensis were also identified among clinical strains for the first time in hospitals in Mexico. Additionally, the presence of B. pseudomallei was confirmed, and a novel species within the B. cepacia complex was documented. Several strains misidentified as B. cepacia actually belong to the genera Pseudomonas, Stenotrophomonas and Providencia.

Conclusions/significance: The presence of different Burkholderia species in Mexico was confirmed. Correct identification of Burkholderia species is important to provide accurate treatment for immunosuppressed patients.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Phylogenetic analysis of Burkholderia species with 16S rRNA and atpD genes with the Bayesian method and the model GTR+G+I. Paraburkholderia unamae MTl-641T was used as an outgroup.
Bar, the nucleotide differences between the sequences. Bayesian posterior probabilities values shown in branches.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Phylogenetic tree inferred using up-to-date bacterial core genes (concatenated alignment of 92 core genes).
A total of 91554 nucleotide positions were used. The phylogenetic tree was inferred with the GTR + CAT model. Gene support indices (GSIs) and percentage bootstrap values are given at branching points. Bar, 0.05 substitutions per position. Bayesian posterior probabilities values shown in branches.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Maximum-parsimony phylogenetic analysis of Burkholderia pseudomallei strains based on core single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) using Parsnp, a component of the Harvest 1.3 software (https://github.com/marbl/harvest).
B. pseudomallei 294H, a clinical strain isolated in Mexico City, is shown in red. The tree was rooted to the most ancestral strain 7894 isolated in Ecuador in 1960. Numbers at each node are bootstrap percentages. Scale bar indicates nucleotide substitutions per SNP.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ong KS, Aw YK, Lee LH, Yule CM, Cheow YL, Lee SM. Burkholderia paludis sp. nov., an antibiotic-siderophore producing novel Burkholderia cepacia complex species, isolated from Malaysian tropical peat swamp soil. Front Microbiol. 2016;7:2046, doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.02046 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wallner A, King E, Ngonkeu EL, Moulin L, Bena G. Genomic analysis of Burkholderia cenocepacia reveal multiple species with differential host-adaptation to plants and humans. BMC Genomics. 2019;20:803, doi: 10.1186/s12864-019-6186-z - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mahenthiralingam E, Urban TA, Goldberg JB. The multifarious, multireplicon Burkholderia cepacia complex. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 2005;3:144–56, doi: 10.1038/nrmicro1085 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Rojas-Rojas FU, López-Sánchez D, Meza-Radilla G, Mendez-Canarios A, Ibarra JA, Estrada-de los Santos P. 2019. El controvertido complejo Burkholderia cepacia, un grupo de especies promotoras del crecimiento vegetal y patógenas de plantas, animales y humanos. Rev Arg Microbiol. 2019;51:84–92, 10.1016/j.ram.2018.01.002 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Mahenthiralingam E, Vandamme P, Campbell ME, Henry DA, Gravelle AM, Wong LT, et al. Infection with Burkholderia cepacia complex genomovars in patients with cystic fibrosis: Virulent transmissible strains of genomovar III can replace Burkholderia multivorans. Clin Infect Dis. 2001;33:1469–1475. doi: 10.1086/322684 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types