CspZ variant-specific interaction with factor H incorporates a metal site to support Lyme borreliae complement evasion.

Polymorphic microbial immune evasion proteins dictate the pathogen species- or strain-specific virulence. Metals can impact how microbial proteins confer host-pathogen interactions, but whether this activity can be allelically variable is unclear. Here, we investigate the polymorphic CspZ protein of Lyme disease spirochete bacteria to assess the role of metals in protein-protein interaction.

Aetiologies of bacterial tick-borne febrile illnesses in humans in Africa: diagnostic limitations and the need for improvement.

Tick-borne febrile illnesses caused by pathogens like spp., spp., spp.

Unprecedented genetic variability of PFam54 paralogs among Eurasian Lyme borreliosis-causing spirochetes.

Lyme borreliosis (LB) is the most common vector-borne disease in the Northern Hemisphere caused by spirochetes belonging to the sensu lato (sl) complex. spirochetes circulate in obligatory transmission cycles between tick vectors and different vertebrate hosts. To successfully complete this complex transmission cycle, sl encodes for an arsenal of proteins including the PFam54 protein family with known, or proposed, influences to reservoir host and/or vector adaptation.

Multifunctional interaction of CihC/FbpC orthologs of relapsing fever spirochetes with host-derived proteins involved in adhesion, fibrinolysis, and complement evasion.

Introduction: Relapsing fever (RF) remains a neglected human disease that is caused by a number of diverse pathogenic () species. Characterized by high cell densities in human blood, relapsing fever spirochetes have developed plentiful strategies to avoid recognition by the host defense mechanisms. In this scenario, spirochetal lipoproteins exhibiting multifunctional binding properties in the interaction with host-derived molecules are known to play a key role in adhesion, fibrinolysis and complement activation.

Serological evidence of louse-borne relapsing fever in northern Kenya.

Background: Tick- and louse-borne relapsing fever are highly-neglected, vector-borne diseases caused by diverse Borrelia species. Presently, there are no data available on the endemicity of tick- and louse-borne relapsing fever spirochetes in Kenya. Here, we present data of a retrospective study on the seroprevalence of louse-borne relapsing fever (LBRF) in northern Kenya.