Journal of Undergraduate Research
Keywords
genome segments, Burkholderia mallei, polymorphism, B. thailandensis
College
Life Sciences
Department
Microbiology and Molecular Biology
Abstract
Burkholderia mallei the etiological agent of the disease glanders, has the capability to cause disease in both animals and humans. Infection is usually caused through inhalation of organisms present in aerosols which results in serious pulmonary and systemic conditions that results in 40% mortality even with vigorous antimicrobial intervention and rises above 90% without such therapy(2). In addition, because of their dangerous nature both organisms have emerged as possible agents which may be used in the production of biological weapons. Recent research conducted in Dr. Richard Robison’s lab has analyzed genomic relatedness in various strains of B. mallei and the non-virulent species B. thailandensis using amplified fragment length polymorphism. Not only did these data create a phylogenetic tree for the organisms, but also revealed segments of DNA that are present in some species, but absent in others. My project centered on isolating these bands, sequencing them and then comparing their sequences to known protein sequences using a BLAST search (1,2,3).
Recommended Citation
Kartchner, Benjamin Nelson and Robison, Dr. Richard A.
(2014)
"Analysis of Unique Genome Segments of Burkholderia mallei Obtained from Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism,"
Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2014:
Iss.
1, Article 837.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2014/iss1/837