The Disease

Bacterial infections of the lungs of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients cause major complications in the treatment of this common genetic disease. Burkholderia cenocepacia is the most clinically important member of B. cepacia complex (BCC) group of opportunistic pathogens to cause lung infections in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. B. cenocepacia infection is particularly problematic since this organism has high levels of antibiotic resistance, making it difficult to eradicate; the resulting chronic infections are associated with severe declines in lung function and increased mortality rates. B. cenocepacia strain J2315 was isolated from a CF patient and is a member of the epidemic ET12 lineage that originated in Canada or the United Kingdom and spread to Europe.

The Genome

The B. cenocepacia strain J2315 genome consists of three circular chromosomes of 3,870,082 bp, 3,217,062 bp, and 875,977 bp and a plasmid of 92,661 bp, and was sequenced in collaboration with Dr. Eshwar Mahenthiralingham of the School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Prof. John Govan of the Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Edinburgh, Prof. C.A. Hart of the Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Liverpool, and Prof. Peter Vandamme of the Laboratorium voor Microbiologie, Universiteit Gent, Belgium.

Data Release

A manuscript describing the J2315 genome has been published: Holden et al. (2009) The genome of Burkholderia cenocepacia J2315, an epidemic pathogen of cystic fibrosis patients. Journal of Bacteriology 191:261-277.

Sequencing Enquiries

Please address all sequencing and annotation enquiries to Dr. Matthew Holden.