J Clin Microbiol. 2001 Jul;39(7):2500-7.    Related Articles, Links

Genetic heterogeneity of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in the
southern United States based on restriction fragment length
polymorphism and sequence analysis.

Lin T, Oliver JH Jr, Gao L, Kollars TM Jr, Clark KL.

Institute of Arthropodology and Parasitology, Department of Biology,
Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia 30460-8056, USA.

Fifty-six strains of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, isolated from
ticks and vertebrate animals in Missouri, South Carolina, Georgia,
Florida, and Texas, were identified and characterized by
PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of rrf
(5S)-rrl (23S) intergenic spacer amplicons. A total of 241 to 258 bp of
intergenic spacers between tandemly duplicated rrf (5S) and rrl (23S)
was amplified by PCR. MseI and DraI restriction fragment polymorphisms
were used to analyze these strains. PCR-RFLP analysis results indicated
that the strains represented at least three genospecies and 10
different restriction patterns. Most of the strains isolated from the
tick Ixodes dentatus in Missouri and Georgia belonged to the
genospecies Borrelia andersonii. Excluding the I. dentatus strains,
most southern strains, isolated from the ticks Ixodes scapularis and
Ixodes affinis, the cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus), and cotton mouse
(Peromyscus gossypinus) in Georgia and Florida, belonged to Borrelia
burgdorferi sensu stricto. Seven strains, isolated from Ixodes minor,
the wood rat (Neotoma floridana), the cotton rat, and the cotton mouse
in South Carolina and Florida, belonged to Borrelia bissettii. Two
strains, MI-8 from Florida and TXW-1 from Texas, exhibited MseI and
DraI restriction patterns different from those of previously reported
genospecies. Eight Missouri tick strains (MOK-3a group) had MseI
patterns similar to that of B. andersonii reference strain 21038 but
had a DraI restriction site in the spacer. Strain SCGT-8a had DraI
restriction patterns identical to that of strain 25015 (B. bissettii)
but differed from strain 25015 in its MseI restriction pattern. Strain
AI-1 had the same DraI pattern as other southern strains in the B.
bissettii genospecies but had a distinct MseI profile. The taxonomic
status of these atypical strains needs to be further evaluated. To
clarify the taxonomic positions of these atypical Borrelia strains, the
complete sequences of rrf-rrl intergenic spacers from 20 southeastern
and Missouri strains were determined. The evolutionary and phylogenetic
relationships of these strains were compared with those of the
described genospecies in the B. burgdorferi sensu lato species complex.
The 20 strains clustered into five separate lineages on the basis of
sequence analysis. MI-8 and TXW-1 appeared to belong to two different
undescribed genospecies, although TXW-1 was closely related to Borrelia
garinii. The MOK-3a group separated into a distinct deep branch in the
B. andersonii lineage. PCR-RFLP analysis results and the results of
sequence analyses of the rrf-rrl intergenic spacer confirm that greater
genetic heterogeneity exists among B. burgdorferi sensu lato strains
isolated from the southern United States than among strains isolated
from the northern United States. The B. andersonii genospecies and its
MOK-3a subgroup are associated with the I. dentatus-cottontail rabbit
enzootic cycle, but I. scapularis was also found to harbor a strain of
this genospecies. Strains that appear to be B. bissettii in our study
were isolated from I. minor and the cotton mouse, cotton rat, and wood
rat. The B. burgdorferi sensu stricto strains from the south are
genetically and phenotypically similar to the B31 reference strain.

PMID: 11427560 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Stromdahl EY, Williamson PC, Kollars TM Jr, Evans SR, Barry RK, Vince
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11: Lin T, Oliver JH Jr, Gao L, Kollars TM Jr, Clark KL.    Related
Articles, Links
    Genetic heterogeneity of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in the
southern United States based on restriction fragment length
polymorphism and sequence analysis.
J Clin Microbiol. 2001 Jul;39(7):2500-7.
PMID: 11427560 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]