Prevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi and diversity of its outer surface protein C (ospC) alleles in blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) in Delaware.

ABSTRACT: Characterizing the diversity of genes associated with virulence and transmission of a pathogen across the pathogen's distribution can inform our understanding of host infection risk. Borrelia burgdorferi is a vector-borne bacterium that causes Lyme disease in humans and is common in the United States. The outer surface protein C (ospC) gene of B. burgdorferi exhibits substantial genetic variation across the pathogen's distribution and plays a critical role in virulence and transmission in vertebrate hosts. In fact, B. burgdorferi infections that disseminate across host tissues in humans are associated with only a subset of ospC alleles. Delaware has a high incidence of Lyme disease, but the diversity of ospC in B. burgdorferi in the state has not been evaluated. We used PCR to amplify ospC

SUBMITTER: Shifflett SA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10033352 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature