Phenotypic and molecular characterization of Burkholderia mallei isolated in northeastern Brazil

Silva K. P. C., Mota R. A., Cunha A. P., Silva L. B. G., Leal N. C., Cavalcante Y. V. N., Teles J. A. A., Pereira M. C. C. & Freitas N. S. 2009. [Phenotypic and molecular characterization of Burkholderia mallei isolated in northeastern Brazil.] Caracterizacao fenotipica e molecular de amostras de Burkholderia mallei isoladas na Regiao Nordeste do Brasil. Pesquisa Veterinaria Brasileira 29(5): 439-444. Departamento de Medicina Veterinaria, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Dois Irmaos, Recife, PE 52171-900, Brazil. E-mail: rinaldo.mota@hotmail.com The objective of this paper was to study the molecular performance and phenotypic characterization of Burkholderia mallei isolated from horses with clinical and serological diagnosis of glanders, originating from the Metropolitan District of Recife and Zona da Mata of Pernambuco and Alagoas. The isolation and biochemical identification of B. mallei was carried out by microbiological and molecular techniques of PCR-fingerprinting and RAPD-PCR. From the eight samples studied, four showed little phenotype variations. In the molecular tests, the samples formed 4 groups of different ribotype profiles and 4 genotype profiles. There was some association of PCR-fingerprinting with RAPD-PCR results. It was concluded that the slight biochemical variations were not associated with different molecular profiles. They also indicated that these differences show heterogeneity associated with the origin of the sample, indicating that the infection was caused by clones of different strains and that the polymorphism of DNA observed could make it difficult to choose one standard strain for an immune prophylactic treatment of glanders.