Borrelia hermsii

A System for Site-Specific Genetic Manipulation of the Relapsing Fever Spirochete Borrelia hermsii... 

Key Words Borrelia hermsii, tick-bome relapsing fever genetic manipulation transformation mutagenesis variable tick protein (Vtp). 

Fig. 4. Virulence of strains by mouse infection. Following in vitro manipulation, strains were assessed for viralence by intraperitoneal injection of mice and subsequent microscopic detection of Giemsa-stained spirochetes in blood. Injection of equal numbers of (A) electrocompetent Borrelia hermsii DAH 2E7, (B) electroporated without a manipulation constmct or antibiotics and cloned by limiting dilution, and (C) the vtp mutant all produced comparable spirochetemias at 65 h post infection. Images of infected blood were taken at 400x.

Dai, Q., Restrepo, B.I., Porcella, S.E., Raffel, S.J., Schwan, T.G., and Barbour, A.G. (2006) Antigenic variation by Borrelia hermsii occurs through recombination between extragenic repetitive elements on linear plasmids. Mol. Microbiol. 60, 1329-1343. 

Hinnebusch, B.J., Barbour, A.G., Restrepo, B.I., and Schwan, T.G. (1998) Population structure of the relapsing fever spirochete Borrelia hermsii as indicated by polymorphism of two multigene families that encode immunogenic outer surface lipoproteins. Infect. Immun. 66, 432-440. 

Hovis KM, McDowell JV, Griffin L et al. Identification and characterization of a linear-plasmid-encoded factor H-binding protein (FhbA) of the relapsing fever spirochete Borrelia hermsii. J Bacteriol 2004 186(9) 2612-2618. 

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