HrpA, a DEAH-box RNA helicase, is involved in global gene regulation in the Lyme disease spirochete.

ABSTRACT: Spirochetes causing Lyme borreliosis are obligate parasites that can only be found in a tick vector or a vertebrate host. The ability to survive in these two disparate environments requires up and downregulation of specific genes by regulatory circuits that remain largely obscure. In this work on the Lyme spirochete, B. burgdorferi, we show that a disruption of the hrpA gene, which encodes a putative RNA helicase, results in a complete loss in the ability of the spirochetes to infect mice by needle inoculation. Studies of protein expression in culture by 2D gels revealed a change in the expression of 33 proteins in hrpA clones relative to the wild-type parent. Quantitative characterization of protein expression by iTRAQ analysis revealed a total of 187 differentially regulated proteins in

SUBMITTER: Salman-Dilgimen A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3144200 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature