# Maintenance of human-associated and environmental Burkholderia in the soil.

> **NIH NIH P20** · UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA · 2022 · $275,867

## Abstract

The human microbiome is a dynamic ecosystem with high influxes of organisms from the surrounding 
environment, especially the soil. Upon leaving the human body, these organisms enter the soil and persist 
through some unknown mechanism, and eventually return to the human body, sometimes as pathogenic 
organisms. This project uses Burkholderia, a genus with members that are pathogens of animals, plants, 
and perhaps fungi, to serve as a model system, with the specific goal of defining the basic interactions of 
symbiotic establishment between Burkholderia isolates and their fungal hosts. This project will provide a 
mechanistic understanding of interactions between these organisms and discover new insights into how 
human-associated bacteria persist in the soil: Aim 1 will make direct associations among soil fungi and 
Burkholderia species and compare the genomic patterns that connect animal, plant, and fungal associated 
species. The results will allow us to understand and monitor new genetic potentials from environmental 
strains will allow us to make better predictions of the negative impacts that pathogenic microbes have when 
they return to interact with humans. Aim 2 will identify the molecular mechanism of interactions mediated by 
fungal exometabolic products. The results will allow make direct connections between fungi as potential 
alternative hosts that maintain human-associated microbes in the soil. And Aim 3 will test competitive 
interactions between Burkholderia and other members of the fungal microbiome. By applying ecological 
theory to fungal-bacterial interactions, we will be able to make inferences into how certain microbes persist 
in the soil that may translate to other environment such as the human microbiome. Together the results of 
this project will elucidate poorly understood mechanisms of fungal-bacterial interactions, and assist with the 
potential development of novel techniques and theoretical concepts that may aid in predicting, preventing, 
and curing Burkholderia infections.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10488619
- **Project number:** 5P20GM125508-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA
- **Principal Investigator:** Nhu Huynh NGUYEN
- **Activity code:** P20 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $275,867
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-08-15 → 2023-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10488619

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10488619, Maintenance of human-associated and environmental Burkholderia in the soil. (5P20GM125508-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10488619. Licensed CC0.

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