title: Multilocus sequence typing and DNA similarity analysis implicates that a Borrelia valaisiana-related sp. isolated in Japan is distinguishable from European B. valaisiana.
abstract: Lyme disease Borrelia spp. are transmitted by Ixodes ticks, and more than 10 species of borreliae have been identified around the world. Recently, another Borrelia sp. has been reported in Asia (Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan and Thailand) as Borrelia valaisiana-related sp. In the present study, we obtained and genetically characterized 19 B. valaisiana-related sp. strains from mammals and ticks. Genetic analyses showed that the Borrelia strains were distinct from B. valaisiana found in Europe. Multilocus sequence typing revealed that these Borrelia isolates formed a monophyletic group with B. yangtze strains in China. Some of the strains were isolated from the bladders of small mammals, and also two strains were experimentally confirmed to be infectious in C3H/HeN mice. We observed that the Borrelia sp. was maintained in the Ixodes granulatus tick after molting. These results suggested that small mammals and I. granulatus were possible reservoir hosts and the vector tick for the Borrelia sp., respectively. B. valaisiana, originally found in Europe, was transmitted mainly by I. ricinus, and birds were mainly thought to be reservoir hosts. Our results suggested that Japanese isolates of B. yangtze (formerly B. valaisiana-related sp.) were distinguishable from B. valaisiana according to the reservoir host and its vector tick. In this study, we also deposited borrelia strain Okinawa-CW62 into bioresource centers as a reference strain of B. yangtze(=DSM 24625, JCM 17189).
authors.affiliation: Department of Bacteriology-I, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo 162-8640, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kawabata
authors.forename: Ai
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Takano
authors.forename: Teruki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kadosaka
authors.forename: Hiromi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fujita
authors.forename: Yoshiki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nitta
authors.forename: Mutsuyo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gokuden
authors.forename: Toshiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Honda
authors.forename: Junko
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tomida
authors.forename: Yoshiaki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kawamura
authors.forename: Toshiyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Masuzawa
authors.forename: Fubito
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ishiguro
authors.forename: Nobuhiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Takada
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yano
authors.forename: Masako
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Andoh
authors.forename: Shuji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ando
authors.forename: Kozue
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Hideyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ohnishi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001096:Arachnid Vectors / Q000382:microbiology*; D001898:Borrelia / Q000235:genetics*; D055028:Comparative Genomic Hybridization; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000382:microbiology*; D018884:Ixodes / Q000382:microbiology*; D007564:Japan; D051379:Mice; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D010802:Phylogeny; D012377:Rodentia / Q000382:microbiology*; D013045:Species Specificity