Borrelia kurtenbachii sp. nov., a widely distributed member of the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato species complex in North America.
Lyme borreliosis group spirochaetes are parasitic bacteria transmitted by vector ticks of the genus Ixodes and distributed mainly between 40° and 60° northern latitudes. Since Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto (hereinafter, B. burgdorferi) was described in the north-eastern USA during the early 1980s, an increasing diversity has been noted within the species complex. Here, we describe a novel genomic species, Borrelia kurtenbachii sp. nov. (type strain 25015(T) = ATCC BAA-2495(T) =  DSM 26572(T)), that is prevalent in transmission cycles among vector ticks and reservoir hosts in North America. Confirmation of the presence of this species in Europe awaits further investigation.
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.
Gabriele
G
Margos
Bacterial Diseases Branch, Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Ft. Collins, CO 80521, USA.
Joseph
J
Piesman
Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, Division of Organisms and Environment, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
Robert S
RS
Lane
Zoonoses Division, Centre for Food-borne, Environmental and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, Canada.
Nicholas H
NH
Ogden
Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Veterinärstr. 2, 85764 Oberschleissheim, Germany.
Andreas
A
Sing
LMU Munich, Department for Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinärstr. 13, 80359 Munich, Germany.
Reinhard K
RK
Straubinger
Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Veterinärstr. 2, 85764 Oberschleissheim, Germany.|Nationale Reference Centre for Borrelia, Veterinärstr. 2, 85764 Oberschleissheim, Germany.
Volker
V
Fingerle
D000818:Animals; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D015748:Borrelia burgdorferi Group / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000382:microbiology; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D018884:Ixodes / Q000382:microbiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D009656:North America; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S