Cited by 62Burkholderia infections and melioidosisBacterial Infections and VaccinesMicrobial infections and disease research

Identification of Burkholderia mallei and Burkholderia pseudomallei adhesins for human respiratory epithelial cells.

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Balder, Rachel, Lipski, Serena, Lazarus, John J, Grose, William, Wooten, Ronald M, Hogan, Robert J, Woods, Donald E, Lafontaine, Eric R·2010·BMC Microbiology

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Burkholderia pseudomallei and Burkholderia mallei cause the diseases melioidosis and glanders, respectively. A well-studied aspect of pathogenesis by these closely-related bacteria is their ability to invade and multiply within eukaryotic cells. In contrast, the means by which B. pseudomallei and B. mallei adhere to cells are poorly defined. The purpose of this study was to identify adherence factors expressed by these organisms. RESULTS: Comparative sequence analyses identified a gene product in the published genome of B. mallei strain ATCC23344 (locus # BMAA0649) that resembles the well-characterized Yersinia enterocolitica autotransporter adhesin YadA. The gene encoding this B. mallei protein, designated boaA, was expressed in Escherichia coli and shown to significantly increase adherence to human epithelial cell lines, specifically HEp2 (laryngeal cells) and A549 (type II pneumocytes), as well as to cultures of normal human bronchial epithelium (NHBE). Consistent with these findings, disruption of the boaA gene in B. mallei ATCC23344 reduced adherence to all three cell types by ~50%. The genomes of the B. pseudomallei strains K96243 and DD503 were also found to contain boaA and inactivation of the gene in DD503 considerably decreased binding to monolayers of HEp2 and A549 cells and to NHBE cultures.A second YadA-like gene product highly similar to BoaA (65% identity) was identified in the published genomic sequence of B. pseudomallei strain K96243 (locus # BPSL1705). The gene specifying this protein, termed boaB, appears to be B. pseudomallei-specific. Quantitative attachment assays demonstrated that recombinant E. coli expressing BoaB displayed greater binding to A549 pneumocytes, HEp2 cells and NHBE cultures. Moreover, a boaB mutant of B. pseudomallei DD503 showed decreased adherence to these respiratory cells. Additionally, a B. pseudomallei strain lacking expression of both boaA and boaB was impaired in its ability to thrive inside J774A.1 murine macrophages, suggesting a possible role for these proteins in survival within professional phagocytic cells. CONCLUSIONS: The boaA and boaB genes specify adhesins that mediate adherence to epithelial cells of the human respiratory tract. The boaA gene product is shared by B. pseudomallei and B. mallei whereas BoaB appears to be a B. pseudomallei-specific adherence factor.

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  • iTasser detected some homology to an adhesin, BoaA, from Burkholderia pseudomallei with structure 3s6l.

    “iTasser detected some homology to an adhesin, BoaA, from Burkholderia pseudomallei with structure 3s6l (Balder et al., 2010).”

    From Modeled Structure of the Cell Envelope Proteinase of Lactococcus lactis (2020) · cites this paper as Balder et al., 2010

    The Discussion (page unavailable) identifies BoaA as an adhesin in B. pseudomallei, supporting the cited identification. The paper does not report an iTasser homology result or associate BoaA with structure 3s6l; its Methods describe other sequence and structure-prediction tools. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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Authors
Balder, R., Lipski, S., Lazarus, J. J., Grose, W., Wooten, R. M., Hogan, R. J., Woods, D. E., & Lafontaine, E. R.
Affiliations
  • University of Georgia (US)
  • University of Toledo (US)
  • University of Calgary (CA)
Corresponding author
Lafontaine, Eric R
Venue
BMC Microbiology
Published
2010-09-28
Volume
10
Issue
1
Pages
250-250
ISSN
1471-2180 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2163750401
Cited by
61
References
111
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 1
FWCI
2.56
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • BMC Microbiology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • University of Georgia
  • National Institutes of Health (5r01ai073452-04)
  • College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia
  • National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (AI062775, R21AI062775, R01-AI073452)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Burkholderia infections and melioidosis
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Microbiology › Bacterial Infections and Vaccines
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Microbiology › Microbial infections and disease research
Keywords
Burkholderia mallei, Burkholderia pseudomallei, bacterial adhesins, bacterial adhesion, airway epithelial cells, melioidosis, glanders, autophagy, phagocytosis, macrophages, gene disruption, alveolar epithelial cells, laryngeal epithelium
MeSH terms
Amino Acid Sequence, Animals, Cell Line, Epithelial Cells, Female, Genes, Bacterial, Humans, Mice, Inbred BALB C, Molecular Sequence Data, Species Specificity, Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial, Burkholderia pseudomallei, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Adhesins, Bacterial, Burkholderia mallei, Mice

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