AI Article Synopsis

  • - Lyme disease is caused by a type of bacteria called Borrelia burgdorferi, which enters the human body through infected tick bites and has surface proteins that help it survive and spread in hosts.
  • - This study focuses on a specific outer surface protein called BB0158, which is part of a gene family consisting of five proteins, and has been analyzed to understand its 3D structure and role in the bacteria.
  • - The research reveals that BB0158 forms a unique structure known as a domain-swapped dimer, providing insights into the proteins of Borrelia burgdorferi that are essential for invoking Lyme disease.

Article Abstract

Lyme disease, or also known as Lyme borreliosis, is caused by the spirochetes belonging to the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex, which can enter the human body following the bite of an infected tick. Many membrane lipid-bound proteins, also known as lipoproteins, are located on the surface of B. burgdorferi sensu lato and play a crucial role in the spirochete to interact with its environment, whether in ticks or mammals. Since the spirochete needs to perform various tasks, such as resisting the host's immune system or spreading throughout the organism, it is not surprising that numerous surface proteins have been found to be essential for B. burgdorferi sensu lato complex bacteria in causing Lyme disease. In this study, we have determined (at 2.4 Å resolution) and characterized the 3D structure of BB0158, one of the few chromosomally encoded outer surface proteins from B. burgdorferi sensu stricto. BB0158 belongs to the paralogous gene family 44 (PFam44), consisting of four other members (BB0159, BBA04, BBE09 and BBK52). The characterization of BB0158, which appears to form a domain-swapped dimer, in conjunction with the characterization of the corresponding PFam44 members, certainly contribute to our understanding of B. burgdorferi sensu stricto proteins.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ttbdis.2023.102287DOI Listing

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