Essential role for OspA/B in the life cycle of the Lyme disease spirochete

J Exp Med. 2004 Mar 1;199(5):641-8. doi: 10.1084/jem.20031960. Epub 2004 Feb 23.

Abstract

The molecular basis of how Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb), the Lyme disease spirochete, maintains itself in nature via a complex life cycle in ticks and mammals is poorly understood. Outer surface (lipo)protein A (OspA) of Bb has been the most intensively studied of all borrelial molecular constituents, and hence, much has been speculated about the potential role(s) of OspA in the life cycle of Bb. However, the precise function of OspA (along with that of its close relative and operonic partner, outer surface [lipo]protein B [OspB]) heretofore has not been directly determined, due primarily to the inability to generate an OspA/B-deficient mutant from a virulent strain of Bb. In this study, we created an OspA/B-deficient mutant of an infectious human isolate of Bb (strain 297) and found that OspA/B function was not required for either Bb infection of mice or accompanying tissue pathology. However, OspA/B function was essential for Bb colonization of and survival within tick midguts, events crucial for sustaining Bb in its natural enzootic life cycle.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antigens, Bacterial / genetics
  • Antigens, Bacterial / physiology*
  • Antigens, Surface / genetics
  • Antigens, Surface / physiology*
  • Arthropod Vectors / microbiology
  • Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / genetics
  • Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / physiology*
  • Bacterial Vaccines
  • Borrelia burgdorferi / genetics
  • Borrelia burgdorferi / growth & development*
  • Borrelia burgdorferi / physiology*
  • Gene Targeting
  • Genes, Bacterial
  • Humans
  • Ixodes / microbiology
  • Lipoproteins*
  • Lyme Disease / microbiology
  • Lyme Disease / transmission
  • Mutation
  • Zoonoses / microbiology
  • Zoonoses / transmission

Substances

  • Antigens, Bacterial
  • Antigens, Surface
  • Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins
  • Bacterial Vaccines
  • Lipoproteins
  • OspA protein
  • OspB protein, Borrelia burgdorferi