PCR-based identification and characterization ofBurkholderia cepaciacomplex bacteria from clinical and environmental sources.

s.-t. seo and k. tsuchiya. 2004.To study the genotypic identification and characterization of the 119Burkholderia cepaciacomplex (Bcc) strains recovered from clinical and environmental sources in Japan and Thailand.Based on the results of analysis by 16S rDNA RFLP generated after digestion withDdeI, the Bcc strains were differentiated into two patterns: pattern 1 (includingBurkholderia vietnamiensis) and pattern 2 (includingB. cepaciagenomovar I,Burkholderia cenocepaciaandBurkholderia stabilis). All strains belonged to pattern 2 except for one strain. In the RFLP analysis of therecAgene usingHaeIII, strains were separated into eight patterns designated as A, D, E, G, H, I, J and K, of which pattern K was new.Burkholderia cepaciaepidemic strain marker (BCESM) encoded byemsRand the pyrrolnitrin biosynthetic locus encoded byprnCwere present in 22 strains (18%) and 88 strains (74%) from all sources, respectively. AllemsR-positive strains belonged toB. cenocepacia, whereas mostprnC-positive strains belonged toB. cepaciagenomovar I.Strains derived from clinical sources were assigned toB. cepaciagenomovar I,B. cenocepacia,B. stabilisandB. vietnamiensis. The majority of Bcc strains from environmental sources (77 of a total 95 strains) belonged toB. cepaciagenomovar I, whereas the rest belonged toB. cenocepacia. On the basis of genomovar-specific PCR andprnCRFLP analysis, strains belonging torecApattern K were identified asB. cepaciagenomovar I.This work provides the genotypic identification of a collection of the Bcc strains from Japan and Thailand. RFLP analysis of theprnCgene promises to be a useful method for differentiatingBurkholderia pyrrociniafromB. cepaciagenomovar I strains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]