Survival of Burkholderia pseudomallei in distilled water for 16 years.
Pumpuang A., Chantratita N., Wikraiphat C., Saiprom N., Day NPJ., Peacock SJ., Wuthiekanun V.
Burkholderia pseudomallei was examined after being maintained in distilled water at 25°C for 16 years. The Gram stain was atypical (pale pink cocci or coccobacilli). The estimated number of live and dead B. pseudomallei was 3.8×10(7) cells/ml and 1.4×10(5) cells/ml, respectively. A colony count on agar of 1.0×10(6) cfu/ml suggested that a proportion of cells were in a viable but non-culturable state. Colony morphology was different from the parental isolate for 84% of colonies. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis of AvrII DNA restriction fragments revealed six different but related banding patterns, which may represent genomic rearrangement.