BURKHOLDERIA MALLEI AND ENVIRONMENT

The genus Burkholderia comprises.40 different species isolated from a large variety of ecological niches (soil, water, plant rhizosphere, fungi, animals) as endophytes, endosymbionts and pathogens (El-Safey, 2005; Vandammeet al., 2006) (Figure 2.11.1). Soil presence ofB. malleiwas reported in Ternate Island (Indonesia) revealing an isolation prevalence of 3.1% (Noura et al., 2009) and in Jordan in crude petroleum oil contaminated soil where it had the capability of degrading diesel fuel (Saadoun, 2002).

Many are known for their biological and metabolic properties involved in the biomineralization of a diverse variety of chemicals and as such are used in biotechnology. In a study conducted on bacterial isolates from Lake Mariut sediments (a fresh water lake located south of Alexandria, Egypt), isolated B.

mallei was able to biodegrade or mineralize the phenoxy herbicide mecoprop (MCPP) under different conditions. Among thePseudomonasspp., the highest mineralization efficiency was achieved byP. mallei (now B. mallei), while P. pseudomallei (now B. pseudomallei) revealed the highest biodegradation efficiency (El-Bestawy & Albrechtsen, 2007). Remarkable examples supporting these assumptions were recently published, revealing a variety of bacteria capable of biodegrading petroleum hydrocarbons species such asB. mallei andB. pseudomallei (described later) known as human and animal pathogens

(Malkawiet al., 2009; Sahuet al., 2008). In relation to petroleum products, Balogun and Fagade (2010) reported on emulsifying bacteria isolated from produce water with high chloride content (650 mg/L) obtained from an oil terminal in the Niger Delta, Nigeria. Among the isolated bacteria,B. malleihad the highest emulsification and de-emulsification indices (65 and 50% respectively).

These characteristics are interesting as biosurfactant agents are substances that can break down the interfacial tension between polar and non-polar liquids in mixtures to form stable emulsions, however these bacteria can also de-emulsify due to the biodegradation properties of different hydrocarbons including their utilization of the excreted biosurfactants (Nadarajah et al., 2002). The dual antagonistic activities can explain the bacterial pathogenic mechanism, by enhanced cell attachment and defense against host antibacterial activity (emulsification) and detachment and spread (de-emulsification). It would be interesting to find out whether these biosurfactants naturally excreted byB. malleiare similar or closely related to some virulence mechanisms expressed during infection, through its extracellular polysaccharide capsule (Dvorak and Spickler, 2008).

From the genetic point of view,B. malleiand its relatives reveal an interesting trend that facilitates their survival, infection and distribution in the ecological biosphere. Shaginyan and Chernukha (2003) in their review of Burkholderia cepacia complex based on comparative genomic molecular biology, hypothesized about a possible phylogenetic relations of B. cepacia complex with phytopathogens and Figure 2.11.1. Burkholderia malleiinfection routes and environmental sources

Environmental Aspects of Zoonotic Diseases 80

mutations in the genome of the complexB. cepaciabacteria (a genome having unusual properties, i.e., a big size and a considerable quantity of insertion sequences-IS) in creating the conditions for the“pulsing” evolution and “jerks” for a rapid change-over from saprophytism in soil environment to a pathogenic agent. Such a mechanism can explain the rapid and radical adaptation of microorganisms under new altering ecological niches. A similar trend was recently presented in a study onB. malleiand its genetic consistency in comparison with much more diverse species and the closely related:B. pseudomallei.

TheB. malleicore genome shared by all these species is smaller compared to its relativeB. pseudomallei while variable gene sets distributed acrossB. malleistrains are larger, revealing insertion sequence elements that contribute to its variable virulence when introduced into an animal host. Romeroet al.(2006) working onB. malleiATCC 23344, showed that this bacterium exhibits genome variability upon passage in mouse, horse and human patient by the accumulation of genome sequence variation at sequence repeats (SSRs) and other loci. The authors reported 12,000 simple sequence repeats found in this strain that may explain its phenotypic versatility.

Finally, the potential use ofB. malleias a biological weapon by armies and terrorists cannot be ignored based on historical experience (Larsen & Johnson, 2009). There is solid evidence that during the first and second world wars, both sites usedB. malleiagainst their opponents including the second half of the last century (Martin et al., 2007). Rose et al. (2005) challenged different potential bioterrorism agents (bacterial) also known as zoonotic pathogens, to chlorine inactivation. Among these pathogens,B. mallei revealed high susceptibility to chlorination at a low disinfectant concentration [Ct - 0.2 mg min/liter for 2 log reduction] compared to other highly pathogenic bacteria such asFrancisella tularensisNY98 [Ct -7.8 mg min/liter for 2 log reduction].

2.11.2 REFERENCES

Alibasoglu, M., Yesildere, T., Calislar, T., Inal, T. & Calsikan, U. (1986) Glanders outbreak in lions in the Istanbul zoological garden.Berl. Munch. Tierarztl. Wochenschr.99, 57–63.

Balogun, S.A. & Fagade, O.E. (2010) Emulsifying bacteria in produce water from Niger-Delta, Nigeria.Afr J Microbiol Res4, 730–734.

Dvorak, G.D. & Spickler, A.R. (2008) Glanders.J. Am. Vet. Med. Assoc.233, 570–577.

El-Bestawy, E. & Albrechtsen, H-J. (2007) Effect of nutrient amendments and sterilization on mineralization and/or biodegradation of¹⁴C-labeled MCPP by soil bacteria under aerobic conditions.Int. Biodeterior. Biodegradation 59, 193–201.

El-Safey, E.M. (2005) Microbiological quality of drinking water cooling system (water supplies) in some trains solid in Egypt.Egypt. J. Biotechnol.20, 193–218.

Fukuyo, M., Battsetseg, G. & Byambaa, B. (2002) Prevalence of Sarcocystis infection in horses in Mongolia.Southeast Asian J. Trop. Med. Public Health33, 718–719.

Larsen, J.C. & Johnson, N.H. (2009) Pathogenesis ofBurkholderia pseudomalleiandBurkholderia mallei. Mil Med 174, 647–651.

Lever, M.S., Nelson, M., Ireland, P.I., Stagg, A.J., Beedham, R.J.et al., (2003) Experimental aerogenicBurkholderia mallei(glanders) infection in the BALB/c mouse. J. Med. Microbiol.52, 1109–1115.

Losada, L., Ronning, C.M., DeShazer, D., Woods, D., Fedorova, N.et al.(2010) Continuing evolution ofBurkholderia malleithrough genome reduction and large-scale rearrangements.Genome Biol. Evol.2, 102–116.

Malkawi, H. I., Jahmani, M. Y., Hussein, E. H., Al-Horani, F. A., Al-Deeb, T. M. (2009) Investigation on the ability of soil bacterial isolates to degrade petroleum hydrocarbons.Int. J. Integ. Biol7, 93–99.

Martin, J. W., Cristopher. G.W. & Eitzen, E.M. (2007), “History of biological weapons: from poisoned darts to intentional epidemics”, In: Dembek, Z. F. (Ed.),Medical Aspects of Biological Warfare, (Series: Textbooks of Military Medicine), Washington, DC, The Borden Institute, pp. 1–20.

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Nadarajah, N., Singh, A. & Ward, O.P. (2002) Evaluation of a mixed bacterial culture for de-emulsification of water-in-petroleum oil emulsions.World J. Microbiol. Biotechnol.18, 435–440.

Noura, S.K.M., Jusuf, N.H., Hamid, A.A. & Yusoff, W.M.W (2009) High prevalence of Pseudomonas species in soil samples from Ternate Island-Indonesia.Pak. J. Biol. Sci.12, 1036–1040.

Romero, C.M., DeShazer, D., Feldblyum, T., Ravel, J., Woods, D.et al.(2006) Genome sequence alterations detected upon passage ofBurkholderia malleiATCC 23344 in culture and in mammalian hosts.BMC Genomics7:228.

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Saadoun, I. (2002) Isolation and characterization of bacteria from crude petroleum oil contaminated soil and their potential to degrade diesel fuel.J. Basic Microbiol.42, 420–428.

Sahu, K., Kumari, S., & Shukla, S. (2008) Biodegradation studies on the selected bacterial strains isolated from hospital discharge.Nature, Environ. Pollut. Technol.7, 107–110.

Shaginyan, I.A. & Chernukha, M.Y. (2003) Bacteria of the Burkholderia cepacia complex: specifities of diagnosis, genome organization and metabolism.Mol. Gen. Microbiol.Virol.2, 3–10.

Vandamme, P., Govan, J. & LiPuma, J. (2006) Diversity and role of Burkholderia spp. In: Coenye, T. and Vandamme, P. (Eds.) Burkholderia. Molecular Microbiology and Genomics. Horizon Bioscience, UK, pp. 1–28.

Whitlock, G.C., Estes, D.M. & Torres, A.G. (2007) Glanders: off to the races with Burkholderia mallei. FEMS Microbiol Lett277, 115–122.

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Chapter 2.12 Leptospiroses

[LEPTOSPIRA INTERROGANS]

Leptospira interrogansis a motile, aerobic, gram-negative spiral shaped bacterium with hook or crooked shaped ends. The species L. interogans contains ∼200 serovars that can be subgrouped in .20 serogroups. Animals, water, soil and infected humans are the main reservoirs for infection (Krawczyk, 2004; Bharti et al., 2003). It affects humans and a wide range of animals, including mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles (Jungeet al., 2007; Niwetpathomwatet al., 2006; Easterbrooket al., 2007). In humans, the disease has a wide range of symptoms and has a biphasic behavior: the first phase is characterized by flu-like symptoms (fever, chills, myalgias, and headache) and sometimes even asymptomatic while the second phase (known as Weil’s disease or as sometimes called Weil Syndrome) (Aydemir et al., 2007) is much more severe presenting itself as meningitis, liver damage (ictohaemorrhagie causing jaundice), renal failure, cardiovascular problems and death (Suarezet al., 1991).