Development of genetic system to inactivate a Borrelia turicatae surface protein selectively produced within the salivary glands of the arthropod vector.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Borrelia turicatae, an agent of tick-borne relapsing fever, is an example of a pathogen that can adapt to disparate conditions found when colonizing the mammalian host and arthropod vector. However, little is known about the genetic factors necessary during the tick-mammalian infectious cycle, therefore we developed a genetic system to transform this species of spirochete. We also identified a plasmid gene that was up-regulated in vitro when B. turicatae was grown in conditions mimicking the tick environment. This 40 kilodalton protein was predicted to be surface localized and designated the Borrelia repeat protein A (brpA) due to the redundancy of the amino acid motif Gln-Gly-Asn-Val-Glu.

Methodology/principal findings

Quantitative reverse-transcriptase polymeras

SUBMITTER: Lopez JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3814808 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature