C. Winstanley et al., Evidence for the presence in Burkholderia pseudomallei of a type III secretion system-associated gene cluster, J MED MICRO, 48(7), 1999, pp. 649-656
Burkholderia pseudomallei, the causative agent of melioidosis, contains a c
luster of putative genes homologous to those encoding HpaP, HrcQ, HrcR, Hrc
S and HrpV in the plant pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum. In R. solanacearum
, these genes form part of a type III secretion-associated pathogenicity is
land. The order of the genes in B. pseudomallei is directly equivalent to t
hat found in R, solanacearum. The B. pseudomallei proteins share 49.5% (Hpa
P), 52.6% (HrcQ), 80.0% (HrcR), 72.1% (HrcS) and 46.7% (HrpV) similarity, r
espectively, with their equivalent R, solanacearum proteins. The presence o
f type III secretion-associated genes in B. pseudomallei pathogens suggests
a possible role for type III secretion systems in the pathogenicity of thi
s organism.