"What better microbial challenge to unite agricultural and medical microbiologists than an organism that reduces an onion to a macerated pulp, protects crops from bacterial and fungal disease, devastates the health and social life of CF patients, and not only is resistant to the most famous antibiotics, penicillin, but can use it as a nutrient!" (J. R. W Gowan and P. Vandamme, 1998) Our main interest is to unravel the molecular mechanisms underlying the adaptation of Burkholderia species to their natural habitats, including the pathogenic or symbiotic interactions with their eukaryotic hosts.