A putative xanthine dehydrogenase is critical for Borrelia burgdorferi survival in ticks and mice.

ABSTRACT: Borrelia burgdorferi is a pathogenic bacterium and the causative agent of Lyme disease. It is exposed to reactive oxygen species (ROS) in both the vertebrate and tick hosts. While some mechanisms by which B. burgdorferi ameliorates the effects of ROS exposure have been studied, there are likely other unknown mechanisms of ROS neutralization that contribute to virulence. Here, we follow up on a three gene cluster of unknown function, bb_0554, bb_0555, and bb_0556, that our prior unbiased transposon insertional sequencing studies implicated in both ROS survival and survival in Ixodes scapularis. We confirmed these findings through genetic knockout and provide evidence that these genes are co-transcribed as an operon to produce a xanthine dehydrogenase. In a

SUBMITTER: Phelan JP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9993122 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature