Isolation and Identification of Burkholderia mallei and its Susceptibility to Anethum graveolens Extracts

In the present study, 13 (4.06%) isolates of Burkholderia mallei were obtained from  hands of 320 workers in veterinary laboratories in Erbil Province- Iraq. All isolates identified depending on conventional assays, VITEK 2 compact system, and further confirmed by PCR using 23 rDNA gen. The results of PCR product showed that the expected size (526bp) was obtained for all local isolates and for B. mallei ATCC 15310. Also the effect of 10 antimicrobials against isolated bacteria were studied and the results showed that isolated B. mallei were absolutely resistant to norfloxacin, and 100% sensitive to imipenem and ceftazidime. The antibacterial activity of aqueous and alcoholic extracts of Anethum  graveolens against B. mallei was studied. The results of MIC by using broth dilution method revealed that the alcohol and aqueous extracts exhibited inhibition of B. mallei growth and the MIC was 800, 1000 µg/ml, respectively. On molecular study, the SubMIC (750, 950 µg/ml) for both extracts against plasmid DNA profile of most resistant isolate of B. mallei was studied. The results showed three plasmid DNA band exist in local isolate of B. mallei and stander strain of B. mallei ATCC 15310 before treating with A. graveolens extracts.  While it was decreased from three to two in the local isolate and the standard strain ATCC 15310 when treated with A.  graveolens extracts. The inhibitory effect of the above mentioned extracts against total protein was studied by SDS-PAGE binding pattern. The results showed that there were differences in the protein banding pattern among the tested isolates and induction of some new protein bands when treated with plant extracts.