title: Borrelia bavariensis sp. nov. is widely distributed in Europe and Asia.
abstract: Since the original description of Borrelia bavariensis sp. nov. in 2009, additional samples available from humans and ticks from Europe and Mongolia, respectively, have been used to further characterize Borrelia strains belonging to this group of spirochaetes that utilize rodents as reservoir hosts. These investigations suggested the presence of related strains in Europe and Asia and confirmed their status as representing a distinct species. Furthermore, samples that were investigated by researchers from China and Japan confirm the ecological relationship of members of this proposed species with rodents and suggest that it has a wide distribution in Eurasia. Here, we use phylogenetic and genetic distance analyses to validate B. bavariensis sp. nov. as a species within the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato species complex. The type strain is PBi(T) ( = DSM 23469(T) = BAA-2496(T)).
authors.affiliation: Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Veterinärstr. 2, 85764 Oberschleissheim, Germany.|Nationale Reference Centre for Borrelia, Veterinärstr. 2, 85764 Oberschleissheim, Germany.|LMU Munich, Department for Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinärstr. 13, 80359 Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Margos
authors.affiliation: Harthauser Str. 8b, 81545 München, Germany.
authors.forename: Bettina
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wilske
authors.affiliation: Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Veterinärstr. 2, 85764 Oberschleissheim, Germany.|Nationale Reference Centre for Borrelia, Veterinärstr. 2, 85764 Oberschleissheim, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sing
authors.affiliation: Nationale Reference Centre for Borrelia, Veterinärstr. 2, 85764 Oberschleissheim, Germany.
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hizo-Teufel
authors.affiliation: Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, 20 Dong-Da-Jie Street, Beijing 100071, PR China.
authors.forename: Wu-Chun
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Beijing Institute of Disease Control and Prevention, 20 Dong-Da-Jie Street, Fengtai District, Beijing 100071, PR China.
authors.forename: Chenyi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.affiliation: Department of Bacteriology and Toxinology, Bundeswehr Institute of Microbiology, Neuherbergstraße 11, 80937 Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Holger
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Scholz
authors.affiliation: LMU Munich, Department for Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinärstr. 13, 80359 Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Reinhard K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Straubinger
authors.affiliation: Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Veterinärstr. 2, 85764 Oberschleissheim, Germany.|Nationale Reference Centre for Borrelia, Veterinärstr. 2, 85764 Oberschleissheim, Germany.
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Fingerle
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D015748:Borrelia burgdorferi Group / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D002681:China; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000382:microbiology; D005060:Europe; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000382:microbiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008986:Mongolia; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D010802:Phylogeny; D012377:Rodentia / Q000382:microbiology; D013987:Ticks / Q000382:microbiology