Immunological and genetic characterization of Borrelia burgdorferi BapA and EppA proteins

Abstract

A large majority of examined Lyme disease spirochaete isolates were demonstrated to contain one or both of the paralogous genes bapA and eppA. Immunological analyses of serum samples collected from infected patients coupled with comparative sequence analyses indicated that bapA gene sequences are quite stable but the encoded proteins do not provoke a strong immune response in most individuals. Conversely, EppA proteins are much more antigenic but vary widely in sequence between different bacteria. Considerable evidence of insertion, deletion and other mutations within eppA genes was observed. A number of significant recombination events were also found to have occurred in regions flanking bapA genes, while the genes themselves rarely exhibited evidence of mutation, suggesting strong selective pressure to maintain BapA sequences within narrow limits. Data from these and other studies suggest important roles for BapA and EppA during the Borrelia burgdorferi infectious cycle.

The Borrelial Fibronectin-Binding Protein RevA Is an Early Antigen of Human Lyme Disease

“…Both enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and immunoblotting methods were used, essentially as we previously described (20,26,27,41). Preexisting human Lyme disease and control serum samples were kindly provided by Gary Wormser (New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY), the University Hospital of Frankfurt, or the blood bank of Frankfurt, Germany.…”

“…Preexisting human Lyme disease and control serum samples were kindly provided by Gary Wormser (New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY), the University Hospital of Frankfurt, or the blood bank of Frankfurt, Germany. U.S. serum samples were from clinically diagnosed patients and have been used in previous serological studies (26,27). German serum samples obtained from Lyme disease patients and from the control groups were pretested for the presence of antiborrelia IgG antibodies using a commercially available line immunoblot assay (Genzyme Virotech, Rüsselsheim, Germany) in which VlsE, BmpA, p83, BBA36, BBO323, BbCRASP-3 (ErpP), and pG (ErpG) are included as target antigens.…”

Borrelia burgdorferiComplement Regulator-Acquiring Surface Protein 2 (CspZ) as a Serological Marker of Human Lyme Disease

“…Human control samples consisted of sera obtained from healthy blood donors (n ϭ 10) and from patients with active or recent primary syphilis (n ϭ 10), leptospirosis (n ϭ 15), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV; n ϭ 15), antinuclear antibodies (n ϭ 15), or rheumatoid arthritis (n ϭ 15). U.S. serum samples were from clinically diagnosed patients and have been used in previous serological studies (41,43). German serum samples obtained from Lyme disease patients and from the control groups were pretested for the presence of anti-borrelia immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies using a commercially available line immunoblot assay (Genzyme Virotech, Rüsselsheim, Germany) in which VlsE, BmpA, p83, BBA36, BBO323, BbCRASP-3 (ErpP), and pG (ErpG) are included as target antigens.…”

Molecular analysis of the channel-forming protein P13 and its paralogue family 48 from different Lyme disease Borrelia species

“…Most of the paralogous genes within these families are situated on plasmids. Those gene families that already have been investigated include bdr (Carlyon et al, 2000;Zuckert et al, 1999), bmp (Aron et al, 1994;Gorbacheva et al, 2000;Ramamoorthy et al, 1996;Simpson et al, 1994), elp (Akins et al, 1999;Hefty et al, 2001), erp (Stevenson et al, 1996(Stevenson et al, , 1998a(Stevenson et al, , b, 2002, mlp (Porcella et al, 2000;Yang et al, 1999Yang et al, , 2000, family 95 (bapA and eppA) (Miller & Stevenson, 2003) and vls (Wang et al, 2001;Zhang et al, 1997;Zhang & Norris, 1998a, b). In B. burgdorferi B31, there are nine members of gene family 48 with the sequence identity to p13 ranging from 28?6 % for bbj03 to 40?9 % for bba01 (Casjens et al, 2000;Fraser et al, 1997).…”