The spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, has an unusual genome comprised of a linear chromosome and the largest plasmid complement of any characterized bacterium. Certain plasmid-encoded elements are required for virulence and viability, both in vitro and in vivo. The genetic tools to manipulate B. burgdorferi are sufficiently developed for precise molecular genetic investigations. B. burgdorferi now represents a prime system with which to address basic questions of plasmid biology and plasmid contributions to bacterial virulence and disease pathogenesis.
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A customizable multiplex protein microarray for antibody testing and its application for tick-borne and other infectious diseases.
Sci Rep
January 2025
Vibrant Sciences LLC., San Carlos, CA, USA.
Tick-borne infections are the most common vector-borne diseases in the USA. Ticks harbor and transmit several infections with Lyme disease being the most common tickborne infection in the US and Europe. Lack of awareness about tick populations, specific diagnostic tests, and overlapping signs and symptoms of tick-borne infections can often lead to misdiagnosis affecting treatment and the prevalence data reported especially for non-Lyme tick-borne infections.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: The spirochete causes Lyme disease. In some patients, an excessive, dysregulated proinflammatory immune response can develop in joints leading to persistent arthritis. In such patients, persistence of antigenic peptidoglycan (PG ) fragments within joint tissues may contribute to the immunopatho-genesis, even after appropriate antibiotic treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: How tick-borne pathogens interact with their hosts has been primarily studied in vertebrates where disease is observed. Comparatively less is known about pathogen interactions within the tick. Here, we report that ticks infected with either (causative agent of anaplasmosis) or (causative agent of Lyme disease) show activation of the ATF6 branch of the unfolded protein response (UPR).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMolecular prevalence of , and in dogs and associated ticks in Egypt: Emerging One Health challenging zoonoses.
Vet World
November 2024
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt.
Background And Aim: Tick-borne pathogens pose a significant problem in canines, other animals, and humans worldwide. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of , and in dogs and associated ticks in Egypt.
Materials And Methods: Blood samples from 110 tick-infested dogs and 550 whole ticks (divided into 110 pools) were collected and tested for the targeted pathogens using polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
Pathogen presence, prevalence, and diversity in and mammal hosts at their expanding northern range limits.
Front Parasitol
January 2024
Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
With climate and land use changes, tick-borne pathogens are expected to become more widely distributed in Canada. Pathogen spread and transmission in this region is modulated by changes in the abundance and distribution of tick and host populations. Here, we assessed the relationships between pathogens detected in and mammal hosts at sites of different levels of disease risk using data from summer field surveys in Ontario and Quebec, Canada.
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