Immunologic and genetic analyses of VmpA of a neurotropic strain of Borrelia turicatae.

Studies in Borreliae II. Some Immunologic, Biochemical and Physical Properties of the Antigenic Components of Borrelia turicatae

Interaction of a neurotropic strain of Borrelia turicatae with the cerebral microcirculation system.

Relapsing fever (RF) is a spirochetal infection characterized by relapses of a febrile illness and spirochetemia due to the sequential appearance and disappearance of isogenic serotypes in the blood. The only difference between isogenic serotypes is the variable major outer membrane lipoprotein. In the absence of specific antibody, established serotypes cause persistent infection. Studies in ou...

Development of Genetic System to Inactivate a Borrelia turicatae Surface Protein Selectively Produced within the Salivary Glands of the Arthropod Vector

BACKGROUND Borrelia turicatae, an agent of tick-borne relapsing fever, is an example of a pathogen that can adapt to disparate conditions found when colonizing the mammalian host and arthropod vector. However, little is known about the genetic factors necessary during the tick-mammalian infectious cycle, therefore we developed a genetic system to transform this species of spirochete. We also id...

Cloning and molecular characterization of a multicopy, linear plasmid-carried, repeat motif-containing gene from Borrelia turicatae, a causative agent of relapsing fever.

Borrelia turicatae is one of several spirochete species that can cause relapsing fever. Here, we describe the identification and characterization of a gene from B. turicatae and other relapsing-fever spirochetes that exhibits homology with the rep+ and ORF-E gene families of the Lyme disease spirochetes. This gene, which we have designated repA, encodes a putative protein of 30.2 kDa with an is...

Molecular and immunological analyses of the Borrelia turicatae Bdr protein family.

Here, we describe the molecular and immunological characterization of the bdr gene family of Borrelia turicatae, a relapsing-fever spirochete. Nine bdr alleles belonging to two different subfamilies were sequenced and localized to linear plasmids. Anti-Bdr antiserum was generated and used to analyze Bdr expression in pre- and postinfection isogenic populations. The analyses presented here provi...