| Burkholderia cepacia is an opportunistic pathogen that can cause life threatening disease in cystic fibrosis patients. B. cepacia has two quorum sensing systems, CepIR and BviIR. PCR analysis of representative strains from seven genomovars was conducted to determine the distribution of the cepIR and bviIR genes. cepI was successfully amplified in all genomovars except B. multivorans, B. ambifaria and genomovar VI while cepR was also amplified in B. multivorans and genomovar VI. The bviI and bviR genes were only amplified from strains of B. vietnamiensis. The cepI and cepR PCR products were cloned and sequenced from one strain of each genomovar and their predicted CepIR products were determined to be highly conserved. Tn5-OT182 mutagenesis identified 10 quorum sensing regulated fusions that were mapped to 6 genetic loci. The response of the identified fusions to N-octanoyl-L-homoserine lactone was examined. |
