title: Identification of Borrelia species after creation of an in-house MALDI-TOF MS database.
abstract: Lyme borreliosis (LB) is a multisystemic disease caused by Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (sl) complex transmitted to humans by Ixodes ticks. B. burgdorferi sl complex, currently comprising at least 19 genospecies, includes the main pathogenic species responsible for human disease in Europe: B. burgdorferi sensu stricto (ss), B. afzelii, and B. garinii. In this study, for the first time, MALDI-TOF MS was applied to Borrelia spp., supplementing the existing database, limited to the species B. burgdorferi ss, B . spielmanii and B. garinii, with the species B. afzelii, in order to enable the identification of all the species potentially implicated in LB in Europe. Moreover, we supplemented the database also with B. hermsii, which is the primary cause of tick-borne relapsing fever in western North America, B. japonica, circulating in Asia, and another reference strain of B. burgdorferi ss (B31 strain). The dendrogram obtained by analyzing the protein profiles of the different Borrelia species reflected Borrelia taxonomy, showing that all the species included in the Borrelia sl complex clustered in a unique branch, while Borrelia hermsii clustered separately. In conclusion, in this study MALDI-TOF MS proved a useful tool suitable for identification of Borrelia spp. both for diagnostic purpose and epidemiological surveillance.
authors.affiliation: Unit of Microbiology and Virology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Calderaro
authors.affiliation: Unit of Microbiology and Virology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gorrini
authors.affiliation: Unit of Microbiology and Virology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Piccolo
authors.affiliation: Unit of Microbiology and Virology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Montecchini
authors.affiliation: Unit of Microbiology and Virology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Mirko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Buttrini
authors.affiliation: Unit of Microbiology and Virology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Sabina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.affiliation: Unit of Microbiology and Virology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Maddalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Piergianni
authors.affiliation: Unit of Microbiology and Virology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Cristina
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Arcangeletti
authors.affiliation: Unit of Microbiology and Virology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Flora
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: De Conto
authors.affiliation: Unit of Microbiology and Virology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chezzi
authors.affiliation: Unit of Microbiology and Virology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Cristina
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Medici
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001898:Borrelia / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D006801:Humans; D018884:Ixodes / Q000382:microbiology; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization