Achromobacter xylosoxidansCellular Pathology Is Correlated with Activation of a Type III Secretion System

Achromobacter xylosoxidansis increasingly recognized as a colonizer of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, but the role that A. xylosoxidansplays in pathology remains unknown. This knowledge gap is largely due to the lack of model systems available to study the toxic potential of this bacterium. Recently, a phospholipase A2(PLA2) encoded by a majority of A. xylosoxidansgenomes, termed AxoU, was identified.