Clear distinction between Burkholderia mallei and Burkholderia pseudomallei using fluorescent motB primers

BACKGROUND: A frame-shift mutation in the flagellum motor gene motB coding for the chemotaxis MotB protein of Burkholderia mallei has been utilized to design a conventional duplex PCR assay with fluorescent labelled primers. FINDINGS: Species specificity was tested with a panel of 13 Burkholderia type strains. A total of 41 B. mallei field strains, 36 B. pseudomallei field strains, and 1 B. thailandensis field strain from different geographic regions were tested and correctly identified. Testing of 55 non-Burkholderia bacterial species revealed 100% specificity of the assay. The minimum detection limit was 1 pg DNA or 160 GE for B. mallei and 130 GE for B. pseudomallei, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This assay enables the clear distinction between B. mallei and B. pseudomallei/B. thailandensis. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13028-015-0104-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.