Evolution of Burkholderia cepecia complex fixLJ

The goal of this project is the understand the role and the evolution of the Burkholderia cepecia complex fixLJ system. Burkholderia cepecia complex is a serious pathogen of patients with cystic fibrosis and is often resistant to many antibiotics. The fixLJ system is a two-component system that regulates pathogenicity and many virulence-associated phenotypes. Bacteria isolated from later time points during chronic infection have mutations within this pathway demonstrating that this system is under selective pressure during chronic infection. This project seeks to determine the role of and identify genes regulated by the fixLJ system. A second goal of this project is to identify the effects of the clinically observed mutations have on fix activity and virulence.