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Infection and Immunity, August 2001, p. 4831-4838, Vol. 69, No. 8
0019-9567/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/IAI.69.8.4831-4838.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Demonstration of the Genetic Stability and Temporal Expression of Select Members of the Lyme Disease Spirochete OspF Protein Family during Infection in Mice

John V. McDowell, Shian Ying Sung, Gregory Price, and Richard T. Marconi*

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia 23298-0678

Received 14 December 2000/Returned for modification 28 February 2001/Accepted 15 May 2001

Infection with Lyme disease spirochetes can be chronic. This suggests that the spirochetes are capable of immune evasion. In a previous study we demonstrated that the ospE gene family, which is one of three gene families whose members are flanked at their 5' end by the highly conserved upstream homology box (UHB) element, undergoes mutation and rearrangement during infection. This results in the generation of antigenically distinct variants that may contribute to immune evasion. In this study we have assessed the genetic stability of the UHB-flanked ospF gene family during infection in mice. Using postinfection clonal populations of Borrelia burgdorferi B31MI, PCR amplicons were generated for three members of the ospF gene family after a 3-month infection time frame. The amplicons were analyzed by single-nucleotide polymorphism pattern analysis and DNA sequencing. Members of the ospF gene family were found to be stable during infection, as no mutations or rearrangements were detected. An analysis of the humoral immune response to these proteins during infection revealed that the immune response to each is specific and that there is a delayed humoral immune response to some OspF protein family members. These analyses suggest that there is a temporal component to the expression of these genes during infection. In addition to a possible contribution to immune evasion, members of the OspF protein family may play specific roles at different stages of infection.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23298-0678, Phone: (804) 828-3779. Fax: (804) 828-9946. E-mail: rmarconi{at}hsc.vcu.edu.

Infection and Immunity, August 2001, p. 4831-4838, Vol. 69, No. 8
0019-9567/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/IAI.69.8.4831-4838.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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