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Volume 6, Number 2—April 2000
Synopsis

The bdr Gene Families of the Lyme Disease and Relapsing Fever Spirochetes: Potential Influence on Biology, Pathogenesis, and Evolution

David M. Roberts*, Jason A Carlyon†, Michael Theisen, and Richard T. Marconi*Comments to Author 
Author affiliations: *Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University, School of Medicine, Richmond, Virginia, USA; †Yale School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA; ‡Statens Serum Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark

Main Article

Table 1

Borrelia species carrying bdr-related genes or expressing proteins immunoreactive with anti-Bdr antisera

Species Associated disease Arthropod vector Bdr-related information
B.burgdorferi Lyme disease, endemic worldwide I. scapularis, I. ricinus, I. pacificus All bdr-gene family members (18 total) have been identified in isolate B31G (30), bdr-alleles that are organized into 3 subfamilies (D,E,F) (25), the genes are carried on variably sized linear and circular plasmids (30)
B. afzelii Lyme disease, Eurasia I. ricinus, I. persulcatus Single bdr gene has been sequenced (43), several Bdr-related proteins have been detected by immunoblot analysis (this report)
B.garinii Lyme disease, Eurasia I. ricinus, I. persulcatus Bdr proteins detected by immunoblot analyses only (this report)
B. tanukii Not associated with human disease I. tanuki Bdr proteins detected by immunoblot analyses only (this report)
B. turdae Not associated with human disease I. turdus Bdr proteins detected by immunoblot analyses only (this report)
B. bissettii Not associated with human disease I. pacificus, I. scapularis, I. spinipalpis Bdr proteins detected by immunoblot analyses only (this report)
B. andersonii Not associated with human disease I. dentatus bdr genes detected by hybridization and Bdr-related proteins by immunoblot analyses (this report, data not shown)
B. valaisiana Not associated with human disease I. columnae, I. ricinus Bdr proteins detected by immunoblot analyses only (this report)
B. japonica Not associated with human disease I. ovatus Bdr proteins detected by immunoblot analyses only (this report)
B. hermsii Endemic relapsing fever, United States Onithodoros hermsii Numerous bdr genes have been described and are carried on both linear and circular plasmids (25,46); several detected by immunoblot analyses Bdr proteins have been (this report) (44)
B. parkeri Endemic relapsing fever, United States Onithodoros parkeri Two bdr-related genes have been sequenced (25), and others have been detected by hybridization with genes residing on both linear and circular plasmids (46); several Bdr proteins detected by immunoblot analyses (this report)
B. turicatae Endemic relapsing fever, United States O. turicata At least nine bdr-related genes have been described and are present on linear plasmids ranging from 25 to 220 kb in size (24,46); several Bdr proteins have been detected by immunoblotting (this report) (24,44)
B. miyamotoi Relapsing fever? I. persulcatus Bdr proteins detected by immunoblotting only (this report)
B. coriaceae Epizootic bovine abortion, United States O. coriaceus bdr-related genes and proteins detected by hybridization (46) or immunoblotting (this report)
B. anserina Avian spirochetosis, United States Argas persicus bdr-related sequences have been detected by hybridization (46), Bdr- related proteins were not detected in in vitro cultivated bacteria (this report)

Main Article

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