title: Diversity of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in Russian Far East.
abstract: Thirty strains of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato have been isolated from Ixodes persulcatus ticks and from skin lesions of Lyme disease patients in the Russian Far East from 1997 to 2003. We amplified full-length outer surface protein A (ospA) gene of all strains. BLAST search and following phylogenetic analysis showed that strains form four well-defined groups. Four strains belong to Borrelia afzelii species. Other strains distributed into tree major groups, identified as Borrelia garinii. Indeed, based on the ospA gene comparison, phylogenetic relationship of these groups among each other does not differ from relationship among other previously defined groups inside B. burgdorferi sensu lato genogroup, such as B. afzelii or Borrelia bissettii. Further investigations of genetic and serologic properties of the strains belonging to those groups are required in order to clarify their taxonomic status.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Rickettsial Ecology, Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Moscow, Russia. olegusss1@mail.ru
authors.forename: Oleg Y
authors.initials: OY
authors.lastname: Mediannikov
authors.forename: Leonid
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ivanov
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zdanovskaya
authors.forename: Rimma
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vorobyova
authors.forename: Yuri
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sidelnikov
authors.forename: Pierre-Edouard
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Fournier
authors.forename: Irina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tarasevich
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Raoult
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000954:Antigens, Surface / Q000235:genetics; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines; D001483:Base Sequence; D015748:Borrelia burgdorferi Group / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D018884:Ixodes / Q000382:microbiology; D008074:Lipoproteins / Q000235:genetics; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000382:microbiology; D010802:Phylogeny; D012426:Russia
chemical_list: D000954:Antigens, Surface; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D008074:Lipoproteins; C072045:OspA protein