Borrelia burgdorferi strain and host sex influence pathogen prevalence and abundance in the tissues of a laboratory rodent host.

ABSTRACT: Experimental infections with different pathogen strains give insight into pathogen life history traits. The purpose of the present study was to compare variation in tissue infection prevalence and spirochete abundance among strains of Borrelia burgdorferi in a rodent host (Mus musculus, C3H/HeJ). Male and female mice were experimentally infected via tick bite with one of 12 strains. Ear tissue biopsies were taken at days 29, 59 and 89 postinfection, and seven tissues were collected at necropsy. The presence and abundance of spirochetes in the mouse tissues were measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. To determine the frequencies of our strains in nature, their multilocus sequence types were matched to published data sets. For the infected mice, 56.6% of the tissues were infecte

SUBMITTER: Zinck CB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12359074 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature