B.pseudomallei bioterrorism and quorum sensing

描述(申请人提供)：生物恐怖袭击，尽管曾经被认为在美国可能性很小，但现在是对所有美国人生命的非常真实和可怕的威胁。一个令人关注的主要领域是致病菌在湖泊、河流、溪流、游泳池、我们的供水和土壤中的分布和生存。假鼻疽伯克霍尔德氏菌(BP)是一种生物安全的3级病原体，通常是东南亚热带地区的土壤和水的腐生植物，会引起一种名为类粘液病的腺样疾病。粘液样沉着症可以是一种良性的肺部形式，但也可能发展为一种迅速致命的败血症。如果不进行治疗，95%的病例会在暴露后2天内死亡。根据美国农业部的数据，1934年，美国动物种群中的扁桃体被根除。然而，生物恐怖分子可以很容易地将这种微生物带入我国，并将其分布到许多水体、储水罐和人口稠密的地区，这些地区可以产生大量的气雾剂。更复杂的事实是，作为生物膜生长的细菌对杀菌剂和抗生素具有显著的抵抗力。在相关生物铜绿假单胞菌中，群体感应(QS)是细胞间通讯的一种形式，对生物被膜的形成、毒力和抗药性至关重要。因为BP基因组含有已知QS基因的同源物，我们假设它也参与QS，并利用它来形成最佳的生物膜和抗药性。这些研究将提供重要的信息，将导致针对使用潜在致命的革兰氏阴性细菌假鼻疽杆菌的潜在生物恐怖袭击的对策。

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.