title: Occurrence of Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. in different genera of mosquitoes (Culicidae) in Central Europe.
abstract: Lyme disease or Lyme borreliosis is a vector-borne infectious disease caused by spirochetes of the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex. Some stages of the borrelial transmission cycle in ticks (transstadial, feeding and co-feeding) can potentially occur also in insects, particularly in mosquitoes. In the present study, adult as well as larval mosquitoes were collected at 42 different geographical locations throughout Germany. This is the first study, in which German mosquitoes were analyzed for the presence of Borrelia spp. Targeting two specific borrelial genes, flaB and ospA encoding for the subunit B of flagellin and the outer surface protein A, the results show that DNA of Borrelia afzelii, Borrelia bavariensis and Borrelia garinii could be detected in ten Culicidae species comprising four distinct genera (Aedes, Culiseta, Culex, and Ochlerotatus). Positive samples also include adult specimens raised in the laboratory from wild-caught larvae indicating that transstadial and/or transovarial transmission might occur within a given mosquito population.
authors.affiliation: Goethe-University, Institute for Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Melaun
authors.affiliation: Goethe-University, Institute for Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Sina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zotzmann
authors.affiliation: Goethe-University, Institute for Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Vanesa Garcia
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: Santaella
authors.affiliation: Goethe-University, Institute for Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Antje
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Werblow
authors.affiliation: Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Görlitz, Görlitz, Germany.
authors.forename: Helga
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zumkowski-Xylander
authors.affiliation: University Hospital of Frankfurt, Institute of Medical Microbiology and Infection Control, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kraiczy
authors.affiliation: Goethe-University, Institute for Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Electronic address: klimpel@bio.uni-frankfurt.de.
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Klimpel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000954:Antigens, Surface / Q000235:genetics; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines / Q000235:genetics; D001898:Borrelia / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D025065:Borrelia burgdorferi / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D009033:Culicidae / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D005408:Flagellin / Q000235:genetics; D005843:Geography; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000382:microbiology*; D007814:Larva; D008074:Lipoproteins / Q000235:genetics; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000635:transmission; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D000954:Antigens, Surface; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines; D008074:Lipoproteins; C072045:OspA protein; D005408:Flagellin; C416532:flaB flagellin
keywords: Borrelia burgdorferi complex; Culicidae; Lyme borreliosis; Mosquitoes; Spirochetes