title: How do lyme borrelia organisms cause disease? The quest for virulence determinants().
abstract: Lyme disease Borrelia are invasive, nontoxigenic, persistent pathogens, and little is known about their mechanisms of pathogenesis. In our laboratory, a signature-tagged mutagenesis (STM) library of over 4,000 Borrelia burgdorferi transposon mutants has been constructed and is being screened for infectivity in mice. In this manner, a global view of the virulence determinants (factors required for full infectivity) is being developed. Additionally, the mechanisms of immune evasion involving the VMP-like system (vls) are under analysis, and cryo-electron microscopy is providing a detailed view of the three-dimensional structure of B. burgdorferi. These approaches will contribute to the improved understanding of how Lyme disease Borrelia cause disease.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine and Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, University of Texas, Medical School at Houston, P.O. Box 20708, Houston, TX, 77225-0708, U.S.A.
authors.forename: Steven J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Norris
keywords: Borrelia burgdorferi; Lyme borreliosis; antigenic variation.; transposon mutagenesis; virulence determinants