Borrelia burgdorferi needs chemotaxis to establish infection in mammals and to accomplish its enzootic cycle.

ABSTRACT: Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, can be recovered from different organs of infected animals and patients, indicating that the spirochete is very invasive. Motility and chemotaxis contribute to the invasiveness of B. burgdorferi and play important roles in the process of the disease. Recent reports have shown that motility is required for establishing infection in mammals. However, the role of chemotaxis in virulence remains elusive. Our previous studies showed that cheA₂, a gene encoding a histidine kinase, is essential for the chemotaxis of B. burgdorferi. In this report, the cheA₂ gene was inactivated in a low-passage-number virulent strain of B. burgdorferi. In vitro analyses (microscopic observations, computer-based bacterial tracking analysis, swarm plate ass

SUBMITTER: Sze CW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3416460 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature