title: Homogeneity of Borrelia japonica and heterogeneity of Borrelia afzelii and 'Borrelia tanukii' isolated in Japan, determined from ospC gene sequences.
abstract: Borrelia afzelii, B. japonica, and 'B. tanukii' isolated from various sources and geographical origins in Japan were characterized by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis and sequencing analysis of the outer surface protein C (OspC) amplicon. B. afzelii and 'B. tanukii' generated variable RFLP patterns and differences in ospC gene sequence were confirmed. In contrast, 26 isolates of B. japonica generated one OspC RFLP type, and sequence similarity between B. japonica ranged from 96.4 to 99.7%. These finding suggests that B. japonica is unique in comparison with other members of B. burgdorferi sensu lato species with respect to homogeneity of the ospC gene.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Shizuoka, Japan. masuzawa@ys7.u-shizuoka-ken.ac.jp
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Masuzawa
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Komikado
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kaneda
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fukui
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sawaki
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yanagihara
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D001898:Borrelia / Q000235:genetics*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D005798:Genes, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D007564:Japan; D009115:Muridae / Q000382:microbiology; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013987:Ticks / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; C079616:OspC protein