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Evaluation of liquid and solid culture media for the recovery and enrichment of Burkholderia cenocepacia from distilled water

  • Environmental Microbiology
  • Published:
Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology

Abstract

Burkholderia cepacia complex (BCC) presence has been the cause of recalls of both sterile and non-sterile pharmaceutical products since these opportunistic pathogens have been implicated to cause infections to susceptible individuals. BCC are ubiquitous in nature, but in pharmaceutical settings the most common source is contaminated water systems. Some strains of BCC, previously described as Pseudomonas cepacia, were not readily detected by standard culture methods. We have explored different strategies to recover and enrich Burkholderia cenocepacia previously cultured in distilled water for 40 days. Enrichment media of varied nutrient concentrations and composition were used, including modified Tryptic Soy Agar or Broth (TSA or TSB), Reasoner’s 2nd Agar or Broth (R2A or R2AB), Brain–Heart Infusion Broth (BHIB), Mueller–Hinton Broth (MHB), and Ashdown’s (ASH) medium. Of the various broth media tested, cell growth was significantly greater in TSB and R2AB than in BHIB, MHB, or ASH broth. TSB and R2AB were also compared for their recovery efficiency. Generally, there was no significant difference between the numbers of B. cenocepacia grown on 15 differently modified TSA and five modified R2A solid media. Overall, however, diluted TSA and TSB media, and R2A and R2AB showed better recovery efficiency than TSA and TSB for inocula containing small numbers of cells. All strains persisted in distilled water for 40 days. Broth media were more effective than solid media for recovery of B. cenocepacia from distilled water. These results may assist in improving detection assays with recovery and enrichment strategies to maximize recovery of these fastidious organisms.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Drs. John Sutherland and Sangeeta Khare for reviewing the manuscript. This work was supported in part by an interagency agreement between the US Department of Energy and the US Food and Drug Administration to the summer student research program at the National Center for Toxicological Research administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education. The views presented in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the Food and Drug Administration.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Center for Toxicological Research, Division of Microbiology, US Food and Drug Administration, 3900 NCTR Road, Jefferson, AR, 72079-9502, USA

    Youngbeom Ahn, Jeong Myeong Kim, Hyeri Ahn & Carl E. Cerniglia

  2. Department of Biology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Hyeri Ahn

  3. Department of Natural Sciences, Albany State University, Albany, GA, USA

    Yong-Jin Lee

  4. Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    John J. LiPuma

  5. Office of Pharmaceutical Science, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, US Food and Drug Administration, Beltsville, MD, USA

    David Hussong

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  1. Youngbeom Ahn
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Correspondence to Youngbeom Ahn.

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Ahn, Y., Kim, J.M., Ahn, H. et al. Evaluation of liquid and solid culture media for the recovery and enrichment of Burkholderia cenocepacia from distilled water. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 41, 1109–1118 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10295-014-1442-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10295-014-1442-3

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