title: A mutagenic PCR identifies isolates of Borrelia garinii responsible for Lyme borreliosis.
abstract: Borrelia garinii is one of the three major Borreliae responsible for Lyme borreliosis in Europe. We have characterized a protein of B. garinii (VS102) and a genomic fragment from the gene encoding this protein was cloned. The DNA sequence of the fragment showed high homology with a known gene of B. burgdorferi sensu stricto. The protein encoded by this gene in B. burgdorferi sensu stricto is a phosphocarrier protein (histidine-containing protein). A mutation T to G polymorphism at codon 57 was found to be specific to B. garinii. A PCR-based approach that allows the rapid detection of this mutation made it possible to specifically discriminate B. garinii from other B. burgdorferi genospecies with high sensitivity and specificity.
authors.affiliation: Infectious Disease and Immunology, Institut Central des Hôpitaux Valaisans, Sion, Switzerland.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mueller
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hutter
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sahli
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bretz
authors.forename: L N
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Toutoungi
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Péter
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001483:Base Sequence; D001898:Borrelia / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000382:microbiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D010731:Phosphoenolpyruvate Sugar Phosphotransferase System / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D010731:Phosphoenolpyruvate Sugar Phosphotransferase System; C030182:phosphocarrier protein HPr