PCR-amplification has been used to screen 75 isolates of the Burkholderia c
epacia complex for the cblA pilin gene. PCR-amplified products of the corre
ct size (664 bp) were cloned and sequenced and the sequences compared. Apar
t from in the control, epidemic cystic fibrosis (CF)-associated B. cepacia
lineage we also identified, for the first time, cblA genes in a unique, non
-CF clinical isolate from France and a plant (onion) pathogenic isolate fro
m Italy. The sequence of the cblA gene amplified from the clinical isolate
was more diverged from the epidemic lineage than that amplified from the on
ion pathogenic isolate. (C) 2001 Federation of European Microbiological Soc
ieties. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.