Yuen, Chee Wah
(2010)
Construction And Characterization Of A Burkholderia Pseudomallei Wzm Deletion Mutant.
Masters thesis, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Abstract
In Burkholderia pseudomallei, a pathogen that causes melioidosis, the gene cluster that
encodes for capsular polysaccharide are located in chromosome one. There are 22 genes
in this cluster and among the capsular genes in the cluster, the wzm gene has not been
studied thoroughly. The amino acid sequence of wzm shows high similarity to CtrC
(Neisseria Meningitidis), BexB (Haemophilus Influenzae) and KpsM (Escherichia coli).
To study the function of wzm gene, an isogenic mutant of wzm gene was generated and
analyzed in comparison with the wild type strain. From the findings, the mutant
produced less biofilm compared to the wild type strain. Furthermore, the mutant was
more sensitive towards desiccation and oxidative stress than the wild type strain.
However, no significant difference was observed for both mutant and wild type strains in
their sensitivity towards high osmolarity and acid conditions. Moreover, scanning
electron microscopy showed that the bacterial cells of the mutant strain have “rough”
surface compared to the wild type strain. However, no phenotypic difference could be
observed using transmission electron microscopy when both bacterial cells of both
mutant and wild type strains were compared.
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