title: Borrelia burgdorferi genes selectively expressed in the infected host.
abstract: An immunological screening strategy was used to select microbial genes expressed only in the host. Differential screening of a Borrelia burgdorferi (the Lyme disease agent) expression library identified a gene (p21) encoding a 20.7-kDa antigen that reacted with antibodies in serum from actively infected mice but not serum from mice immunized with heat-killed B. burgdorferi. Selective expression of p21 in the infected host was confirmed by Northern blot analysis and RNA PCR. Further differential screening of the expression library identified at least five additional B. burgdorferi genes are selectively expressed in vivo. This screening method can be used to identify genes induced in vivo in a wide variety of pathogenic microorganisms for which a gene transfer system is not currently available.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520-8031, USA.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Suk
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Das
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jwang
authors.forename: S W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Barthold
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Flavell
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fikrig
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood; D000937:Antigen-Antibody Reactions; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000276:immunology; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines; D001483:Base Sequence; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D015748:Borrelia burgdorferi Group / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000472:pathogenicity; D017931:DNA Primers; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D015870:Gene Expression; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D015698:Genomic Library; D007114:Immunization; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines; D017931:DNA Primers; D004269:DNA, Bacterial