title: RNA-Seq-based analysis of changes in Borrelia burgdorferi gene expression linked to pathogenicity.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Lyme disease is a global public health problem caused by the spirochaete Borrelia burgdorferi. Our previous studies found differences in disease severity between B. burgdorferi B31- and B. garinii SZ-infected mice. We hypothesized that genes that are differentially expressed between Borrelia isolates encode bacterial factors that contribute to disease diversity.
  
  
  METHODS
  The present study used high-throughput sequencing technology to characterize and compare the transcriptional profiles of B. burgdorferi B31 and B. garinii SZ cultured in vitro. Real-time quantitative RT-PCR was used to validate selected data from RNA-seq experiments.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 731 genes were differentially expressed between B. burgdorferi B31 and B. garinii SZ isolates, including those encoding lipoproteins and purine transport proteins. The fold difference in expression for B. garinii SZ versus B. burgdorferi B31 ranged from 22.07 to 1.01. Expression of the OspA, OspB and DbpB genes were significantly lower in B. garinii SZ compared to B. burgdorferi B31.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results support the hypothesis that global changes in gene expression underlie differences in Borrelia pathogenicity. The findings also provide an empirical basis for studying the mechanism of action of specific genes as well as their potential usefulness for the diagnosis and management of Lyme disease.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Key Laboratory of Grazing Animal Diseases MOA, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Lanzhou, 730046, China. wubinbin02@163.com.
authors.forename: Qiong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Key Laboratory of Grazing Animal Diseases MOA, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Lanzhou, 730046, China. guanguiquan@163.com.
authors.forename: Guiquan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Guan
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Key Laboratory of Grazing Animal Diseases MOA, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Lanzhou, 730046, China. lvrilzj@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Zhijie
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Key Laboratory of Grazing Animal Diseases MOA, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Lanzhou, 730046, China. youquanli@163.com.
authors.forename: Youquan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Key Laboratory of Grazing Animal Diseases MOA, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Lanzhou, 730046, China. ljxbn@163.com.
authors.forename: Jianxun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Key Laboratory of Grazing Animal Diseases MOA, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Lanzhou, 730046, China. yinhong@caas.net.cn.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D025065:Borrelia burgdorferi / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D015870:Gene Expression; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000382:microbiology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins