Abstract
Burkholderia pseudomallei is a saprophytic soil bacterium and the etiological agent that causes melioidosis. It is naturally resistant to many antibiotics and therefore is difficult to treat. Bacteriophages may provide an alternative source of treatment. We have isolated and characterised the bacteriophage ΦBp-AMP1. The phage is a member of the Podoviridae family and has a genome size of ~ 45 Kb. Molecular data based on the gene which encodes for the phage tail tubular protein suggests that the phage is distinct from known phages but related to phages which infect B. thailandensis and Ralstonia spp. The phage ΦBp-AMP1 is the first B. pseudomallei podovirus to be isolated from the environment rather than being induced from a bacterial culture. It has a broad host range within B. pseudomallei and can infect all 11 strains that we tested it on but not related Burkholderia species. It is heat stable for 8 h at 50°C but not stable at 60°C. It may potentially be a useful tool to treat or diagnose B. pseudomallei infections as it can lyse several strains of clinical relevance.
Highlights
Burkholderia pseudomallei is a saprophytic soil bacterium and the etiological agent that causes melioidosis
Burkholderia pseudomallei is a Gram-negative bacillus and the causative agent of melioidosis which is endemic in Southeast Asia and northern Australia [1]
B. pseudomallei is resistant to many antibiotics including third-generation cephalosporins [3]
Summary
Burkholderia pseudomallei is a saprophytic soil bacterium and the etiological agent that causes melioidosis. * Correspondence: grsks@mahidol.ac.th 1Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10700, Thailand Full list of author information is available at the end of the article where they integrate into the host bacterial genomes, or virulent where they infect, multiply, and lyse their hosts without any initial integration period. A recent study reported the abundance and diversity of prophages in B. pseudomallei, B. thailandensis and B. mallei genomes and suggested how they contribute to the phenotypic diversity in the Burkholderia species complex [8].
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