The Journal of Medical Microbiology, Vol 48, Issue 7 649-656, Copyright © 1999 by Society for General Microbiology

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Evidence for the presence in Burkholderia pseudomallei of a type III secretion system-associated gene cluster

C. Winstanley, B. A. Hales and C. A. Hart
Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Bradford, West Yorkshire. C.Winstanley@liverpool.ac.uk

Burkholderia pseudomallei, the causative agent of melioidosis, contains a cluster of putative genes homologous to those encoding HpaP, HrcQ, HrcR, HrcS and HrpV in the plant pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum. In R. solanacearum, these genes form part of a type III secretion-associated pathogenicity island. The order of the genes in B. pseudomallei is directly equivalent to that found in R. solanacearum. The B. pseudomallei proteins share 49.5% (HpaP), 52.6% (HrcQ), 80.0% (HrcR), 72.1% (HrcS) and 46.7% (HrpV) similarity, respectively, with their equivalent R. solanacearum proteins. The presence of type III secretion-associated genes in B. pseudomallei pathogens suggests a possible role for type III secretion systems in the pathogenicity of this organism.

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