Multiple and Diverse vsp and vlp Sequences in Borrelia miyamotoi, a Hard Tick-Borne Zoonotic Pathogen.

ABSTRACT: Based on chromosome sequences, the human pathogen Borrelia miyamotoi phylogenetically clusters with species that cause relapsing fever. But atypically for relapsing fever agents, B. miyamotoi is transmitted not by soft ticks but by hard ticks, which also are vectors of Lyme disease Borrelia species. To further assess the relationships of B. miyamotoi to species that cause relapsing fever, I investigated extrachromosomal sequences of a North American strain with specific attention on plasmid-borne vsp and vlp genes, which are the underpinnings of antigenic variation during relapsing fever. For a hybrid approach to achieve assemblies that spanned more than one of the paralogous vsp and vlp genes, a database of short-reads from next-generation sequencing was supplemented with long-reads obtai

SUBMITTER: Barbour AG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4718594 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature