Strict Conservation yet Non-Essential Nature of Plasmid Gene bba40 in the Lyme Disease Spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi.

ABSTRACT: The highly segmented genome of Borrelia burgdorferi, the tick-borne bacterium that causes Lyme disease, is composed of a linear chromosome and more than 20 co-existing endogenous plasmids. Many plasmid-borne genes are unique to B. burgdorferi and some have been shown to provide essential functions at discrete points of the infectious cycle between a tick vector and rodent host. In this study, we investigated the role of bba40, a highly conserved and differentially expressed gene on a ubiquitous linear plasmid of B. burgdorferi. In a prior genome-wide analysis, inactivation of bba40 by transposon insertion was linked with a noninfectious phenotype in mice, suggesting that conservation of the gene in the Lyme disease spirochete reflected a critical function of the encoded prote

SUBMITTER: Kasumba IN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10269632 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature