Borrelia burgdorferi is a spirochete pathogen transmitted among warm-blooded hosts by ixodid ticks. Frequency-dependent selection for variant outer-surface proteins might be expected to arise in this species, since rare variants are more likely to avoid immune surveillance in previously infected hosts. We sequenced the OspA and OspB genes of nine North American strains and compared them with ni...

Diversity and mutations in the genes for outer surface proteins (Osps) A and B of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (B. burgdorferi), the spirochetal agent of Lyme disease, suggests that a monovalent OspA or OspB vaccine may not provide protection against antigenically variable naturally occurring B. burgdorferi. We now show that OspA or OspB immunizations protect mice from tick-borne infection w...

Surface layer as the outer protective coverage of bacteria and archaea are two-dimensional crystalline and symmetrical arrays of proteins that recently attract a lot of attention for biologist scientists. The surface layers of bacteria are usually 5 to 10 nm in diameter and represent highly porous protein lattices with uniform size and morphology with the pore sizes of 2 to 8 nm. The crucial an...

The ability of a Lyme borreliosis vaccine to induce and maintain sustained levels of borreliacidal antibody is necessary for prolonged protection against infection with Borrelia burgdorferi. Vaccination against infection with B. burgdorferi could be improved by determining the mechanism(s) that influences the production of protective borreliacidal antibody. Borreliacidal antibody was inhibited ...

The importance of gene regulation in the enzootic cycle of Borrelia burgdorferi, the spirochete that causes Lyme disease, is well established. B. burgdorferi regulates gene expression in response to changes in environmental stimuli associated with changing hosts. In this study, we monitored mRNA decay in B. burgdorferi following transcriptional arrest with actinomycin D. The time-dependent deca...

The host response to Borrelia burgdorferi is likely to play a role in the pathogenesis of Lyme arthritis. Whereas most patients with Lyme arthritis can be cured with antibiotic therapy, approximately 10% of the patients have persistent arthritis for months or even several years after antibiotic treatment. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the T cell response to one or more antigens o...

Natural antibodies are those immunoglobulin molecules found in mammalian serum that arise in the absence of exposure to environmental pathogens and may comprise an early host defense against invading pathogens. The spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi first encounters natural antibodies when its arthropod vector, Ixodes scapularis, begins feeding on a mammalian host. Natural antibodies may therefore...

Freeze-fracture electron microscopy was used to investigate the membrane architectures of high-passage Borrelia burgdorferi B31 and low- and high-passage isolates of B. burgdorferi N40. In all three organisms, fractures occurred almost exclusively through the outer membrane (OM), and the large majority of intramembranous particles were distributed randomly throughout the concave OM leaflet. The...