title: Detection of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto ospC alleles associated with human lyme borreliosis worldwide in non-human-biting tick Ixodes affinis and rodent hosts in Southeastern United States.
abstract: Comparative analysis of ospC genes from 127 Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto strains collected in European and North American regions where Lyme disease is endemic and where it is not endemic revealed a close relatedness of geographically distinct populations. ospC alleles A, B, and L were detected on both continents in vectors and hosts, including humans. Six ospC alleles, A, B, L, Q, R, and V, were prevalent in Europe; 4 of them were detected in samples of human origin. Ten ospC alleles, A, B, D, E3, F, G, H, H3, I3, and M, were identified in the far-western United States. Four ospC alleles, B, G, H, and L, were abundant in the southeastern United States. Here we present the first expanded analysis of ospC alleles of B. burgdorferi strains from the southeastern United States with respect to their relatedness to strains from other North American and European localities. We demonstrate that ospC genotypes commonly associated with human Lyme disease in European and North American regions where the disease is endemic were detected in B. burgdorferi strains isolated from the non-human-biting tick Ixodes affinis and rodent hosts in the southeastern United States. We discovered that some ospC alleles previously known only from Europe are widely distributed in the southeastern United States, a finding that confirms the hypothesis of transoceanic migration of Borrelia species.
authors.affiliation: Biology Centre v.v.i., Institute of Parasitology AS CR, České Budějovice, Czech Republic. natasharudenko@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Nataliia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rudenko
authors.forename: Maryna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Golovchenko
authors.forename: Václav
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Hönig
authors.forename: Nadja
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mallátová
authors.forename: Lenka
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Krbková
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mikulásek
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fedorova
authors.forename: Natalia M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Belfiore
authors.forename: Libor
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Grubhoffer
authors.forename: Robert S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Lane
authors.forename: James H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Oliver
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D025065:Borrelia burgdorferi / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005060:Europe; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D018884:Ixodes / Q000382:microbiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009656:North America; D012377:Rodentia / Q000382:microbiology*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; C079616:OspC protein