Genetic heterogeneity of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in the southern United States based on restriction fragment length polymorphism and sequence analysis.

ABSTRACT: Fifty-six strains of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, isolated from ticks and vertebrate animals in Missouri, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Texas, were identified and characterized by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of rrf (5S)-rrl (23S) intergenic spacer amplicons. A total of 241 to 258 bp of intergenic spacers between tandemly duplicated rrf (5S) and rrl (23S) was amplified by PCR. MseI and DraI restriction fragment polymorphisms were used to analyze these strains. PCR-RFLP analysis results indicated that the strains represented at least three genospecies and 10 different restriction patterns. Most of the strains isolated from the tick Ixodes dentatus in Missouri and Georgia belonged to the genospecies Borrelia andersonii. Excluding the I. dentatus st

SUBMITTER: Lin T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC88176 | biostudies-literature | 2001 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature