Publications

lyme borreliosis in laboratory animals: effect of host species and in vitro passage of borrelia burgdorferi.	the susceptibility of several common laboratory animal species to a known pathogenic isolate of borrelia burgdorferi (n40) was evaluated following intraperitoneal (ip) inoculation of 10(6-8) spirochetes into 3-day-old lewis rats, cd-1 mice, syrian hamsters, and 3-week-old american dutch rabbits. at 30 days, tissues were cultured for spirochetes and examined histologically. all species developed multisystemic infection as well as arthritis and carditis, but disease was most severe in rats and mic ...	1990	2143358
borrelia burgdorferi strain 25015: characterization of outer surface protein a and vaccination against infection.	mice vaccinated with outer surface protein a (ospa) from borrelia burgdorferi strain n40 are protected from challenge with an intradermal syringe inoculum of b. burgdorferi strains n40, b31, and cd16. vaccination experiments were done to determine if protection extended to strains 297 and 25015. we now show that ospa-n40 immunized mice are protected against challenge with strain 297, isolated from the cerebrospinal fluid of a patient with neuroborreliosis, but not against challenge with strain 2 ...	1992	1545130
carditis in lyme disease susceptible and resistant strains of laboratory mice infected with borrelia burgdorferi.	the clinical and pathologic evolution of cardiac lyme disease was evaluated in four-week-old susceptible c3h/he (c3h) and resistant c57bl/6 (b6) mice on days 3, 6, 10, 15, 30, 60, and 90 after intradermal inoculation with borrelia burgdorferi strain n40. culture, dna polymerase chain reaction, in situ nucleic acid hybridization, immunoperoxidase histochemical analysis, and silver stain were used to detect spirochetes. spirochetes were first detected by culture on day 6 in two of four c3h mice. t ...	1992	1503192
standardization of medium for culturing lyme disease spirochetes.	to standardize the procedure for isolating and culturing lyme disease spirochetes, we modified the composition of the medium generally used for this purpose (bsk-ii) and developed a system for its distribution. this medium contains no gelatin or agarose, and various components are used in proportions that differ from those in bsk-ii. each of the major proteinacious components was screened by substitution in samples of the complete product. the final medium was evaluated for the capacity to grow ...	1993	8501226
experimental borrelia burgdorferi infection in peromyscus leucopus.	we evaluated the susceptibility of laboratory-reared adult and infant white-footed mice (peromyscus leucopus) to a known pathogenic isolate of borrelia burgdorferi (n40). two-month-old and 3-day-old peromyscus were inoculated intradermally with 10(6) to 10(7) spirochetes. at 21 days for adults or 30 days for infants post inoculation, mice were killed, and tissues were cultured for spirochetes and examined microscopically. based on serology and culture, adult mice became infected but did not have ...	1994	8028098
selection of variant borrelia burgdorferi isolates from mice immunized with outer surface protein a or b.	a nonclonal population of borrelia burgdorferi n40 (passage 3) that survived protective immunity following challenge inoculation of outer surface protein (osp) a- or b-hyperimmunized mice were characterized for the molecular basis of evasion of immunity. two of six b. burgdorferi isolates, cultured from ospa-immunized mice, had antigenic diversity in the carboxyl terminus of ospa and did not bind to the protective ospa monoclonal antibody designated ixdii. however, ospa-immunized mice challenged ...	1995	7729870
characterization of two genes, p11 and p5, on the borrelia burgdorferi 49-kilo base linear plasmid.	a putative operon encoding two borrelia burgdorferi n40 genes, p11 and p5 was cloned and localized to the 49 kilobase linear plasmid. p11 encodes an 11 kda protein and p5 encodes a 5 kda protein. the first 88 nucleotides of p11 have 81% identity with orf5 on a circular plasmid from borrelia afzelii strain ip21, suggesting that homologues of these genes may be present in different regions of the b. burgdorferi genome.	1996	8688460
characterization of cp18, a naturally truncated member of the cp32 family of borrelia burgdorferi plasmids.	we have mapped the genes encoding the antigenic lipoproteins ospe and ospf to an approximately 18-kb circular plasmid in borrelia burgdorferi n40. sequencing and restriction mapping have revealed that this plasmid, cp18, is homologous to an 18-kb region of the cp32 circular plasmids found in the lyme disease spirochetes. our data show that cp18 may have arisen from an ancestral cp32 plasmid by deletion of a 14-kb region of dna, indicating that a significant portion of the cp32 plasmid is not ess ...	1997	9209045
humoral immunity to borrelia burgdorferi n40 decorin binding proteins during infection of laboratory mice.	a borrelia burgdorferi n40 genomic expression library was screened with serum from actively infected mice to identify gene products that elicit protective immunity. a clone that contained a putative bicistronic operon containing two genes that encoded 20- and 22-kda lipoproteins was identified and sequenced. these genes showed homology with the genes encoding decorin binding proteins dbpb and dbpa, respectively, of b. burgdorferi 297 and b31. n40-dbpa dna hybridized with b. burgdorferi n40 dna o ...	1998	9596756
dissociation of infectivity and pathogenicity in borrelia burgdorferi.	clonal borrelia burgdorferi n40 (cn40) passaged 75 times in vitro (n40-75) infects mice but does not cause disease. n40-75 passaged 45 times further in vitro (n40-120) was no longer infectious and lacked genes encoded on linear plasmids 38 and 28-1, among other differences. these data suggest that b. burgdorferi cn40, n40-75, and n40-120 have distinct phenotypes that can be used to dissect the genetic elements responsible for pathogenicity and infectivity.	2001	11292785
modulation of borrelia burgdorferi stringent response and gene expression during extracellular growth with tick cells.	borrelia burgdorferi n40 multiplied extracellularly when it was cocultured with tick cells in l15bs medium, a medium which by itself did not support b. burgdorferi n40 growth. growth of b. burgdorferi n40 in the presence of tick cells was associated with decreased production of (p)ppgpp, the stringent response global regulator, a fourfold decrease in rela/spot mrna, an eightfold net decrease in bmpd mrna, and a fourfold increase in rpsl-bmpd mrna compared to growth of b. burgdorferi in bsk-h med ...	2002	12010998
coinoculation of borrelia spp. with tick salivary gland lysate enhances spirochete load in mice and is tick species-specific.	c3h/hen mice were inoculated with 10(6) spirochetes, either borrelia burgdorferi strain n40 or the portuguese strain of b. lusitaniae, potib2. mice receiving spirochetes coinoculated with salivary gland lysate (sgl) demonstrated significantly higher spirochete loads in target organs as measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. this effect was tick dependent, in that ixodes ricinus sgl specifically enhanced b. lusitaniae load, whereas i. scapularis sgl specifically increased b ...	2002	12537131
protective efficacy of an oral vaccine to reduce carriage of borrelia burgdorferi (strain n40) in mouse and tick reservoirs.	lyme disease is caused by the spirochete borrelia burgdorferi, which is transmitted through the bite of infected ixodes ticks. vaccination of mice with outer surface protein a (ospa) of b. burgdorferi has been shown to both protect mice against b. burgdorferi infection and reduce carriage of the organism in feeding ticks. here we report the development of a murine-targeted ospa vaccine utilizing vaccinia virus to interrupt transmission of disease in the reservoir hosts, thus reducing incidence o ...	2006	16300863
bgp, a secreted glycosaminoglycan-binding protein of borrelia burgdorferi strain n40, displays nucleosidase activity and is not essential for infection of immunodeficient mice.	bgp, one of the surface-localized glycosaminoglycan-binding proteins of the lyme disease spirochete, borrelia burgdorferi, exhibited nucleosidase activity. infection of scid mice with b. burgdorferi strain n40 mutants harboring a targeted insertion in bgp and apparently retaining all endogenous plasmids revealed that bgp is not essential for colonization of immunocompromised mice.	2006	16622242