Lipid scavenging by the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi.

ABSTRACT: Lyme disease is caused by the host-adapted spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi. With a genome of only 1.5 mbp, B. burgdorferi is dependent on metabolites scavenged from their vertebrate and invertebrate hosts for growth. These scavenged nutrients include several lipid precursors: the spirochete is auxotrophic for fatty acids and cholesterol, and also accumulates environmental phospholipids. Comprehensive lipidomic analysis of B. burgdorferi by LC MS/MS was used to identify previously undescribed membrane components. These include some likely scavenged from the culture medium and some which may be synthesized de novo via unknown pathways. Changes in fatty acid composition as cells enter stationary phase suggest that scavenging of environmental lipids is preferential to de novo synthesis, while

SUBMITTER: Gwynne PJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12774342 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature