Borrelia sinica sp. nov., a lyme disease-related Borrelia species isolated in China.

Abstract

A survey was performed for Lyme disease borrelia in the southern part of China, in Zhejiang, Sichuan and Anhui provinces, along the Yangtze River valley, in May of 1997 and 1998. Twenty isolates from Ixodes granulatus, Ixodes ovatus, Apodemus agrarius and Niviventer confucianus were obtained. These isolates were characterized by RFLP of the 5S-23S rDNA intergenic spacer, sequence analysis of the intergenic spacer, 16S rDNA and flagellin gene, DNA-DNA hybridization analysis, SDS-PAGE and Western blotting with mAbs. Six isolates from A. agrarius, five from I. granulatus collected in Zhejiang province and one from N. confucianus in Sichuan province were highly similar to strains 10MT and 5MT isolated in Korea and classified as Borrelia valaisiana. Four isolates from A. agrarius and I. granulatus collected in Zhejiang province generated unique RFLP patterns and phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rDNA and flagellin gene sequences suggested that the isolates should be classified as B. valaisiana. Furthermore, three isolates (CMN1a, CNM2, CMN3T) from N. confucianus captured in Sichuan province and one (CWO1) from I. ovatus in Anhui province showed lower 165 rDNA sequence similarity (less than 99.0%) to sequences of previously described Lyme disease-related Borrelia species. DNA-DNA hybridization results revealed that strains CMN3T and CMN1a were clearly distinct from all other known Lyme disease Borrelia species. Electron microscope observation showed the spirochaetes to be morphologically similar to those of Borrelia, but the cells contained only four periplasmic flagella inserted at each end of the spirochaetes. Based on these results, a new Borrelia species, Borrelia sinica sp. nov., is proposed. Strain CMN3T is the type strain of this new species.

Multilocus Sequence Typing and DNA Similarity Analysis Implicates that a <i>Borrelia valaisiana</i>–related sp. Isolated in Japan is Distinguishable from European <i>B. valaisiana</i>

“…At present, B. valaisiana-related sp. is known to be widely distributed in the Far Eastern countries of Korea, Taiwan and China [23,24,26,28]. In addition to the above reports, Chu et al also reported that multilocus sequence analysis suggested that the novel Borreila sp.…”

Exilispira thermophila gen. nov., sp. nov., an anaerobic, thermophilic spirochaete isolated from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent chimney

“…Differential characteristics between strain RASEN T and other genera in the phylum Spirochaetes Data for strain RASEN T are from this study. Data for other genera were taken from Holt et al (1994), Paster et al (1991) and the following sources: Treponema (Norris et al, 2006;Smibert, 1984;Wyss et al, 2004;Nordhoff et al, 2005;, Spirochaeta (Leschine et al, 2006;Canale-Parola, 1984a, b;Hoover et al, 2003;Dröge et al, 2006), Borrelia (Caimono, 2006;Kelly, 1984;Güner et al, 2004;Masuzawa et al, 2001;Fukunaga et al, 1996;Richter et al, 2004;Le Fleche et al, 1997;Baranton et al, 1992;Canica et al, 1993;Wang et al, 1997;Karimi et al, 1979), Cristispira (Breznak, 1984), Brevinema (Defosse et al, 1995), Brachyspira (Stanton, 2006;Hampson & La, 2006) and Leptospira/Leptonema (Adler & Faine, 2006;Faine, 1984;Levett et al, 2006;Perolat et al, 1998;Ramadass et al, 1992). +, Positive; 2, negative; V, dependent on the species; ND, no data available.…”

A novel, fast-growing Borrelia sp. isolated from the hard tick Hyalomma aegyptium in Turkey

“…Lyme-disease-related Borrelia have been classified into at least 11 species, including the recently described species Borrelia sinica (Masuzawa et al, 2001;Miyamoto & Masuzawa, 2002), and these are transmitted by the Ixodes species (family Ixodidae, subfamily Prostriata) of hard tick. Relapsing-feverassociated Borrelia species, including Borrelia coriaceae, which is suspected of involvement in the aetiology of epizootic bovine abortion, are transmitted by soft ticks of the genus Ornithodoros (family Argasidae, subfamily Ornithodorinae).…”