Does RecA have a role in Borrelia recurrentis?
Genomic sequencing of two relapsing fever spirochaetes showed truncation of recA in Borrelia recurrentis, but not in Borrelia duttonii. RecA has an important role among bacteria; we investigated whether this characteristic was representative of B. recurrentis, or an artefact following in vitro cultivation. We sequenced recA directly from samples of patient with louse-borne relapsing fever (B. recurrentis) or tick-borne relapsing fever (B. duttonii). We confirmed the premature stop codon in seven louse-borne relapsing fever samples, and its absence from three tick-borne relapsing fever samples. Furthermore, specific signature polymorphisms were found that could differentiate between these highly similar spirochaetes.
Cutler
S J
SJ
School of Health & Bioscience, University of East London, London, UK. s.cutler@uel.ac.uk
Rinky
I J
IJ
Bonilla
E M
EM
D001898:Borrelia / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*; D018389:Codon, Nonsense; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005002:Ethiopia; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011938:Rec A Recombinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D012061:Relapsing Fever / Q000382:microbiology*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013636:Tanzania
D018389:Codon, Nonsense; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D011938:Rec A Recombinases