B. pseudomallei exotoxin

Burkholderia pseudomallei (B. pseudomallei) is the causative agent of melioidosis, an important health problem for humans and livestock in Southeast Asia. Melioidosis is associated with underlying predisposing conditions, such as diabetes and renal failure and can range in presentation from a fulminant septicemic illness to an indolent local infection. B. pseudomallei secretes various extracellular products which have been implicated in the pathogenesis of this disease. These products include exotoxin, protease, haemolysin, acid phosphatase and recently, the purification and characterization of a cytotoxic exolipid has been described. Nevertheless, current understanding points to the exotoxin as the lethal component, manifesting its cytotoxic effects by inhibition of cellular protein synthesis via ADPribosylation of elongation factor-2 (EF-2).