Comparative genomics of the Western Hemisphere soft tick-borne relapsing fever borreliae highlights extensive plasmid diversity.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Tick-borne relapsing fever (TBRF) is a globally prevalent, yet under-studied vector-borne disease transmitted by soft and hard bodied ticks. While soft TBRF (sTBRF) spirochetes have been described for over a century, our understanding of the molecular mechanisms facilitating vector and host adaptation is poorly understood. This is due to the complexity of their small (~ 1.5 Mb) but fragmented genomes that typically consist of a linear chromosome and both linear and circular plasmids. A majority of sTBRF spirochete genomes' plasmid sequences are either missing or are deposited as unassembled sequences. Consequently, our goal was to generate complete, plasmid-resolved genomes for a comparative analysis of sTBRF species of the Western Hemisphere.

Results

Utilizing a

SUBMITTER: Kneubehl AR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9158201 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature