NYMC Faculty Publications

Molecular Typing of Borrelia Burgdorferi

Author Type(s)

Faculty

DOI

10.1002/9780471729259.mc12c05s34

Journal Title

Current Protocols in Microbiology

First Page

1

Last Page

31

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-1-2014

Department

Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology

Keywords

Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins, Bacterial Typing Techniques, Borrelia burgdorferi, Molecular Typing, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length, RNA, Bacterial, RNA, Ribosomal

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences

Abstract

Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato is a group of spirochetes belonging to the genus Borrelia in the family of Spirochaetaceae. The spirochete is transmitted between reservoirs and hosts by ticks of the family Ixodidae. Infection with B. burgdorferi in humans causes Lyme disease or Lyme borreliosis. Currently, 20 Lyme disease-associated Borrelia species and more than 20 relapsing fever-associated Borrelia species have been described. Identification and differentiation of different Borrelia species and strains is largely dependent on analyses of their genetic characteristics. A variety of molecular techniques have been described for Borrelia isolate speciation, molecular epidemiology, and pathogenicity studies. In this unit, we focus on three basic protocols, PCR-RFLP-based typing of the rrs-rrlA and rrfA-rrlB ribosomal spacer, ospC typing, and MLST. These protocols can be employed alone or in combination for characterization of B. burgdorferi isolates or directly on uncultivated organisms in ticks, mammalian host reservoirs, and human clinical specimens.

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