MAL and infection: Particularly enigmatic is the function of a polyketide synthase encoded by the bur/mal gene locus (Figure 1 A), which is highly conserved in the genomes of all bacteria belonging to the B. pseudomallei group10 and in B. contaminans, an emerging pathogen in cystic fibrosis.11 Deletions in the bur/mal gene cluster reduced the virulence of B. pseudomallei12 and its low‐pathogenicity model organism B. thailandensis13 against the infection model Caenorhabditis elegans.