<i>Borrelia carolinensis</i>sp. nov., a New (14th) Member of the<i>Borrelia burgdorferi</i>Sensu Lato Complex from the Southeastern Region of the United States

During the investigations on ticks and tick-borne pathogens (TBP) range expansion in the Northern Apennines, we captured 107 Podarcis muralis lizards. Sixtyeight animals were infested by immature Ixodes ricinus, Haemaphysalis sulcata and H. punctata. Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. was detected in 3.7% of I. ricinus larvae and 8.0% of nymphs. Together with the species-specific B. lusitaniae, we identified B. garinii, B. afzelii and B. valaisiana. Rickettsia spp. (18.1% larvae, 12.0% nymphs), namely R. monacensis, R. helvetica and R. hoogstraalii, were also found in I. ricinus. R. hoogstraalii was detected in H. sulcata nymphs as well, while the two H. punctata did not harbour any bacteria. One out of 16 lizard tail tissues was positive to R. helvetica. Our results support the hypothesis that lizards are involved in the epidemiological cycles of TBP. The heterogeneity of B. burgdorferi genospecies mirrors previous findings in questing ticks in the area, and their finding in attached I. ricinus larvae suggests that lizards may contribute to the maintenance of different genospecies. The rickettsiae are new findings in the study area, and R. helvetica infection in a tail tissue indicates a systemic infection. R. hoogstraalii is reported for the first time in I. ricinus ticks. Lizards seem to favour the bacterial exchange among different tick species, with possible public health consequences.

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“…genospecies identification, we performed an in silico restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis and a 'virtual hybridization' [47].…”

Section: Apathya Cappadocicamentioning

confidence: 99%

Importance of Common Wall Lizards in the Transmission Dynamics of Tick-Borne Pathogens in the Northern Apennine Mountains, Italy

et al. 2017

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“…The results with flaB have shown only minor differences among relapsing fever Borrelia species. On the other hand, although the intergenic spacer rrs-rrl is not able to discriminate between B. recurrentis and B. duttonii (29), it has been shown to discriminate between strains of other RF Borrelia species.Multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) is a powerful tool for the delineation of species and assignment of strains to defined species (23,25,26). The utilization of this method is increasing, especially with uncultured and slow-growing organisms that cannot be analyzed by DNA-DNA hybridization.…”

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confidence: 99%

Phylogenetic Analysis of a Virulent Borrelia Species Isolated from Patients with Relapsing Fever

et al. 2010

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Multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) was used to clarify the taxonomic status of a virulent Borrelia organism previously isolated from patients with relapsing fever and from ticks in Spain that is designated the Spanish relapsing fever (SRF) Borrelia. This species has been used extensively in experimental infection models because of its continued virulence. Seven genes were amplified to analyze the phylogenetic relationships among several Spanish isolates of SRF Borrelia and other relapsing fever Borrelia species. The genes targeted in this study included rrs and flaB, which have commonly been used in phylogenetic studies; the rrf-rrl intergenic spacer (IGS), which is highly discriminatory; and four additional genes, p66, groEL, glpQ, and recC, which are located on the chromosome and which have therefore evolved in a clonal way. The species included in this study were Borrelia duttonii, B. recurrentis, B. crocidurae, and B. hispanica as Old World Borrelia species and B. turicatae and B. hermsii as New World Borrelia species. The results obtained by MLSA of the SRF Borrelia on the basis of 1% of the genomic sequence data analyzed confirmed that the SRF Borrelia isolates are B. hispanica. However, the prototype isolates of B. hispanica used in this study have an uncertain history and display unique phenotypic characteristics that are not shared with the SRF Borrelia. Therefore, we propose to use strain SP1, isolated from a relapsing fever patient in 1994 in southern Spain, as the type strain for B. hispanica.The members of the Borrelia genus comprise two major groups: those causing Lyme disease and those causing relapsing fever (RF). Relapsing fever is distributed all over the world; and its agents are traditionally classified according to their geographic origins, vector, and infectivity in various animal species. In Spain, relapsing fever has been reported sporadically throughout the last century and has been associated with Borrelia hispanica (2,11,17,19,27,28). From 1994 to 1996, spirochetes were isolated from the blood of two patients with RF symptoms and from Ornithodoros erraticus, and we have designated these spirochetes Spanish relapsing fever (SRF) Borrelia. This SRF organism is refractory to in vitro cultivation, and this represents a unique phenotypic characteristic not shared by B. hispanica (1). SRF Borrelia infects C3H/ HeN, BALB/c, C57/B51, and Swiss outbred mice (1), and it is highly infectious. A murine model of SRF was developed (13) and has been used extensively in experimental studies on pathogenesis and the host response (5-7, 14, 16, 20). A preliminary genetic analysis comparing the rrs and flaB loci from B. hispanica to those from the Spanish isolates suggested that SRF could represent a new species (1).To date, most of the ecological and epidemiological studies on relapsing fever Borrelia have used a single locus. Therefore, characterization of relapsing fever spirochetes has relied upon the amplification and sequencing of certain genes, such as rrs (24), flaB (12), and more recently, the n...

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“…Its etiologic agent, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, was originally thought to be homogeneous. However, many studies have demonstrated that B. burgdorferi sensu lato is phenotypically and genotypically heterogeneous (13,14,21 (2,5,8,10,11,20).…”

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Distribution of Borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Lato in China

et al. 2011

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We genotyped 102 Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato strains isolated from ticks, animals, and patients in 11 provinces in China by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) amplification of 5S (rrf)-23S (rrl) rRNA gene spacer amplicons and multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA). The results showed that Borrelia garinii was the main genotype in China (65/102) and that it was distributed mainly in northern China. Borrelia afzelii was the second most frequently found species (22/102), and it was distributed in both northern and southern China. All Borrelia valaisiana strains were isolated from Guizhou Province. Additionally, one B. burgdorferi strain was isolated from Hunan Province. Our results show the diversity and wide distribution of B. burgdorferi sensu lato in China.

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Borrelia carolinensissp. nov., a New (14th) Member of theBorrelia burgdorferiSensu Lato Complex from the Southeastern Region of the United States

Cited by 111 publications

References 52 publications

Importance of Common Wall Lizards in the Transmission Dynamics of Tick-Borne Pathogens in the Northern Apennine Mountains, Italy

Importance of Common Wall Lizards in the Transmission Dynamics of Tick-Borne Pathogens in the Northern Apennine Mountains, Italy

Phylogenetic Analysis of a Virulent Borrelia Species Isolated from Patients with Relapsing Fever

Distribution of Borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Lato in China

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