AUTHOR=Shommu Nusrat S. , Vogel Hans J. , Storey Douglas G. 

TITLE=Potential of metabolomics to reveal Burkholderia cepacia complex pathogenesis and antibiotic resistance

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=6

YEAR=2015

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2015.00668

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2015.00668

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>The <italic>Burkholderia cepacia</italic> complex (Bcc) is a collection of closely related, genetically distinct, ecologically diverse species known to cause life-threatening infections in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. By virtue of a flexible genomic structure and diverse metabolic activity, Bcc bacteria employ a wide array of virulence factors for pathogenesis in CF patients and have developed resistance to most of the commonly used antibiotics. However, the mechanism of pathogenesis and antibiotic resistance is still not fully understood. This mini review discusses the established and potential virulence determinants of Bcc and some of the contemporary strategies including transcriptomics and proteomics used to identify these traits. We also propose the application of metabolic profiling, a cost-effective modern-day approach to achieve new insights.</p>