Relapsing Fever Spirochetes Contain Chromosomal Genes with Unique Direct Tandemly Repeated Sequences

Genome sequencing of the relapsing fever spirochetes Borrelia hermsii and Borrelia turicatae identified three open reading frames (ORFs) on the chromosomes that contained internal, tandemly repeated amino acid sequences that were absent in the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi. The predic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Infection and Immunity Vol. 73; no. 5; pp. 3025 - 3037
Main Authors:	Guyard, Cyril, Chester, Earl M, Raffel, Sandra J, Schrumpf, Merry E, Policastro, Paul F, Porcella, Stephen F, Leong, John M, Schwan, Tom G
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Washington, DC American Society for Microbiology 01-05-2005
Subjects:	Amino Acid Sequence Animals Bacterial diseases Bacterial Proteins - chemistry Bacterial Proteins - genetics Bacterial Proteins - immunology Bacterial Proteins - metabolism Biological and medical sciences Borrelia - genetics Borrelia - immunology Borrelia burgdorferi Borrelia hermsii Borrelia infections Borrelia turicatae Chromosomes, Bacterial - genetics Dogs Female Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology Human bacterial diseases Humans Infectious diseases Medical sciences Microbiology Molecular Pathogenesis Molecular Sequence Data Open Reading Frames Polymerase Chain Reaction Polymorphism, Genetic Recombinant Proteins - genetics Recombinant Proteins - immunology Recombinant Proteins - metabolism Relapsing Fever - immunology Relapsing Fever - microbiology Sequence Analysis, DNA Species Specificity Spirochetes Tandem Repeat Sequences - genetics Tropical bacterial diseases Infection Gene Microbiology Spirochaetosis Borrelia infection Bacteriosis Relapsing fever Tandemly repeated sequence Immunity
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Summary:	Genome sequencing of the relapsing fever spirochetes Borrelia hermsii and Borrelia turicatae identified three open reading frames (ORFs) on the chromosomes that contained internal, tandemly repeated amino acid sequences that were absent in the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi. The predicted amino acid sequences of these genes (BH0209, BH0512, and BH0553) have hydrophobic N termini, indicating that these proteins may be secreted. B. hermsii transcribed the three ORFs in vitro, and the BH0512- and BH0553-encoded proteins (PBH-512 and PBH-553) were produced in vitro and in experimentally infected mice. PBH-512 and PBH-553 were on the spirochete's outer surface, and antiserum to these proteins reduced the adherence of B. hermsii to red blood cells. PCR analyses of 28 isolates of B. hermsii and 8 isolates of B. turicatae demonstrated polymorphism in each gene correlated with the number of repeats. Serum samples from relapsing fever patients reacted with recombinant PBH-512 and PBH-553, suggesting that these proteins are produced during human infection. These polymorphic proteins may be involved in the pathogenicity of these relapsing fever spirochetes and provide a mechanism for antigenic heterogeneity within their populations.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 Editor: J. T. Barbieri Corresponding author. Mailing address: Rocky Mountain Laboratories, 903 S. Fourth St., Hamilton, MT 59840. Phone: (406) 363-9477. Fax: (406) 363-9445. E-mail: cguyard@niaid.nih.gov.
ISSN:	0019-9567 1098-5522
DOI:	10.1128/IAI.73.5.3025-3037.2005