Population bottlenecks during the infectious cycle of the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi.

ABSTRACT: Borrelia burgdorferi is a zoonotic pathogen whose maintenance in nature depends upon an infectious cycle that alternates between a tick vector and mammalian hosts. Lyme disease in humans results from transmission of B. burgdorferi by the bite of an infected tick. The population dynamics of B. burgdorferi throughout its natural infectious cycle are not well understood. We addressed this topic by assessing the colonization, dissemination and persistence of B. burgdorferi within and between the disparate mammalian and tick environments. To follow bacterial populations during infection, we generated seven isogenic but distinguishable B. burgdorferi clones, each with a unique sequence tag. These tags resulted in no phenotypic changes relative to wild type organisms, yet permitted highly sensiti

SUBMITTER: Rego RO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4076273 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature