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Genomic complexity and plasticity of Burkholderia cepacia |
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| Authors: | Thomas G. Lessie William Hendrickson Brendan D. Manning Richard Devereux |
| Affiliation: | Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL 60612, USA; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Health and Environmental Effects Laboratory, Gulf Ecology Division, Gulf Breeze, FL 32561, USA |
| Abstract: | Abstract Burkholderia cepacia has attracted attention because of its extraordinary degradative abilities and its potential as a pathogen for plants and for humans. This bacterium was formerly considered to belong to the genus Pseudomonas in the γ-subclass of the Proteobacteria , but recently has been assigned to the β-subclass based on rrn gene sequence analyses and other key phenotypic characteristics. The B. cepacia genome is comprised of multiple chromosomes and is rich in insertion sequences. These two features may have played a key role in the evolution of novel degradative functions and the unusual adaptability of this bacterium. |
| Keywords: | Burkholderia cepacia Phylogenetic relationship Chromosomal multiplicity Macrorestriction fragment Insertion sequence |