B.pseudomallei bioterrorism and quorum sensing

B.pseudomallei 生物恐怖主义和群体感应

• 批准号: 6556955
• 负责人: DANIEL J. HASSETT
• 金额: $ 7.68万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-09-15 至 2004-09-14
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6556955
• 关键词: Burkholderia; Caenorhabditis elegans; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; bacterial disease; bioterrorism /chemical warfare; blood toxicology; cell cell interaction; confocal scanning microscopy; disease outbreaks; drug resistance; drug tolerance; environmental contamination; gel electrophoresis; gram negative bacteria; hazardous substances; mass spectrometry; molecular film; polymerase chain reaction; proteomics; southern blotting; tissue /cell culture; virulence

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A bioterrorist attack, although once thought to be a remote possibility in the United States, is now a very real and terrifying threat to the lives of all Americans. A major area of concern is the distribution and survival of pathogenic bacteria in lakes, rivers, streams, swimming pools, our water supply and soils. Burkholderia pseudomallei (BP) is a Biosafety level 3 pathogen that is normally a saprophyte of soil and water in tropical areas of Southeast Asia, and causes a glanders-like disease called mellioidosis. Mellioidosis can exist as a benign pulmonary form, but may also develop into a rapidly fatal septicemia. If left untreated, >95% of all cases are fatal within 2 days of exposure. According to the US Department of Agriculture, glanders was eradicated from the US animal population in 1934. However, bioterrorists can easily bring such organisms into our country and distribute the organism into many bodies of water, water holding tanks and heavily populated areas where significant aerosols can be produced. Further complicating matters is the fact that bacteria growing as a biofilm are remarkably recalcitrance to biocides and antibiotics. The processes of quorum sensing (QS), a form of cell-cell communication, in the related organism Pseudomonas aeruginosa, is critical for biofilm formation, virulence and resistance to biocides. Because the BP genome harbors homologs to known QS genes, we hypothesize that it, too, participates in QS and uses it for optimal biofilm formation and resistance to biocides. These studies will provide important information that will lead to countermeasures against a potential bioterrorist attack using the potentially lethal gram-negative bacterium, B. pseudomallei.

描述（由申请人提供）：生物恐怖袭击虽然曾经被认为在美国发生的可能性很小，但现在对所有美国人的生命构成了非常真实和可怕的威胁。令人关注的一个主要领域是病原菌在湖泊、河流、溪流、游泳池、供水和土壤中的分布和生存。鼻疽伯克霍尔德氏菌 (BP) 是一种生物安全 3 级病原体，通常是东南亚热带地区土壤和水中的腐生菌，会引起鼻疽样疾病，称为类鼻疽病。类鼻疽可以以良性肺部形式存在，但也可能发展成快速致命的败血症。如果不及时治疗，超过 95% 的病例会在接触后 2 天内死亡。据美国农业部称，鼻疽已于 1934 年从美国动物种群中根除。然而，生物恐怖分子可以轻松地将此类生物带入我国，并将其分布到许多水体、蓄水池和存在大量气溶胶的人口稠密地区。可以生产。使问题更加复杂的是，以生物膜形式生长的细菌对杀菌剂和抗生素非常抵抗。群体感应 (QS) 过程是相关生物体铜绿假单胞菌中细胞间通讯的一种形式，对于生物膜形成、毒力和对杀菌剂的抗性至关重要。由于 BP 基因组与已知的 QS 基因具有同源性，因此我们假设它也参与 QS 并利用它来实现最佳生物膜形成和对杀菌剂的抵抗力。这些研究将提供重要信息，从而制定针对使用潜在致命革兰氏阴性细菌拟鼻疽伯克氏菌的潜在生物恐怖袭击的对策。