The impact of in vitro cultivation on the natural life cycle of the tick-borne relapsing fever spirochete Borrelia turicatae.

ABSTRACT: Tick-borne relapsing fever is an infectious disease caused by Borrelia species and are primarily transmitted by Ornithodoros ticks. Prior work indicated that in vitro cultivated spirochetes remain infectious to mice by needle inoculation; however, the impact of laboratory propagation on the pathogens natural life cycle has not been determined. Our current study assessed the effect of serial cultivation on the natural tick-mammalian transmission cycle. First, we evaluated genomic DNA profiles from B. turicatae grown to 30, 60, 120, and 300 generations, and these spirochetes were used to needle inoculate mice. Uninfected nymphal ticks were fed on these mice and acquisition, transstadial maintenance, and subsequent transmission after tick bite was determined. Infection frequencies in mice tha

SUBMITTER: Krishnavajhala A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7549772 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature