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Biofilm formation by strains of Burkholderia cenocepacia lineages IIIA and IIIB and B. gladioli pv. alliicola associated with onion bacterial scale rot

  • Bacterial and Fungal Pathogenesis - Research Paper
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Abstract

The Burkholderia genus has high ecological and nutritional versatility, having species capable of causing diseases in animals, humans, and plants. During chronic infections in humans, biofilm formation is a characteristic often associated with strains from different species of this genus. However, there is still no information on the formation of biofilms by plant pathogenic strains of B. cenocepacia (Bce) lineages IIIA and IIIB and B. gladioli pv. alliicola (Bga), which are associated with onion bacterial scale rot in the semi-arid region of northeast Brazil. In this study, we performed an in vitro characterization of biofilm formation ability in different culture media by the phytopathogenic strains of Bce and Bga and investigated its relationship with swarming motility. Our results indicated the existence of an intraspecific variation in biofilm formation capacity in vitro by these bacteria and the existence of a negative correlation between swarming motility and biofilm formation for strains of Bce lineage IIIB. In addition, histopathological analyses performed using optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy revealed the formation of biofilm in vivo by Bce strains in onion tissues.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

Pedro Henrique Rodrigues da Silva thanks the Brazilian National Research Council (CNPq) for the scholarship awarded (process number 132864/2019–3).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Agronomia, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil

    Pedro Henrique Rodrigues da Silva, Emanuel Feitosa de Assunção, Leandro da Silva Velez, Lucas Nascimento dos Santos & Marco Aurélio Siqueira da Gama

  2. Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil

    Elineide Barbosa de Souza

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  1. Pedro Henrique Rodrigues da Silva
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  2. Emanuel Feitosa de Assunção
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  3. Leandro da Silva Velez
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  6. Marco Aurélio Siqueira da Gama
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Contributions

Conceived of or designed the study: all authors. Performed research: Silva PHR, Assunção EF, Santos LN. Analyzed data: Silva PHR and Gama MAS. Wrote the paper: Silva PHR, Velez LS, Souza EB, and Gama MAS.

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Correspondence to Marco Aurélio Siqueira da Gama.

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da Silva, P.H.R., de Assunção, E.F., da Silva Velez, L. et al. Biofilm formation by strains of Burkholderia cenocepacia lineages IIIA and IIIB and B. gladioli pv. alliicola associated with onion bacterial scale rot. Braz J Microbiol 52, 1665–1675 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42770-021-00564-6

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