CU-Boulder technology used to identify unexpected bacteria in cystic fibrosi...(authors on the study included Kirk Harri...)

Date:12/3/2007

authors on the study included Kirk Harris and Mary Ann De Groote of CU-Boulder's MCD biology department, Scott Sagel, Edith Zemanick, Robin Deterding and Frank Acurso of CU-Denver's Health Sciences Center and Robert Kapsner, Churee Penvari and Heidi Kaess of the Mike McMorris Cystic Fibrosis Research and Treatment Center at Denver's Children's Hospital.

About 80 percent of pathogens identified in cystic fibrosis patients using the novel gene sequencing technology belong to three common bacterial groups, including the group that causes strep infections, said Pace. But the remaining 20 percent were from unexpected bacterial strains that would not normally be cultured in cystic fibrosis lab tests.

In one child in the test group, all of the pathogens in the mucus were from a bacterium genus known as "Lysobacter," which is commonly found in soils but not tested for in humans through standard cultures. "In cases like this, doctors could go back and re-test individual children for specific bacterial infections," he said. "This would be another advantage for clinicians using this technology for cystic fibrosis patients."

Pace said the molecular method involves isolating and amplifying bacterial nucleic acid samples from the lung fluids, then sequencing them to census individual pathogens by where they fit on the phylogenetic, or family, tree.

"This is a great example of a successful research collaboration between campuses in the University of Colorado system," said Pace a member of the National Academy of Sciences and 2001 winner of a $500,000 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, popularly known as the "genius grant." "My feeling is that those involved in cystic fibrosis research internationally will be very interested in these findings."

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Contact: Norman Pace norman.pace@colorado.edu 303-735-1808 University of Colorado at Boulder Source:Eurekalert

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