ArticleGenetics2002
Geographic uniformity of the Lyme disease spirochete (Borrelia burgdorferi) and its shared history with tick vector (Ixodes scapularis) in the Northeastern United States.
Article in Genetics, 2002. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 129 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
129 citing papers in PubMed, 236 citations in OpenAlex.
- OspC phylogenetic analyses support the feasibility of a broadly protective polyvalent chimeric Lyme disease vaccine.Clinical and vaccine immunology : CVI · 2007Trial
- Evaluation of EcoCRM, virus-like particles, and mRNA as vaccine platforms against Borrelia burgdorferi.Vaccine · 2026Article
- The First Study ofPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Whole Genome Sequencing Reveals Clade-Specific Genetic Variation in Blacklegged Ticks.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Article
- Population dynamics of the Lyme disease bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, during rapid range expansion in New York State.Molecular ecology · 2024Article
- Genetic structure and Rickettsia infection rates in Ixodes ovatus and Haemaphysalis flava ticks across different altitudes.PloS one · 2024Article
- Changes in the geographic distribution of the blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis, in the United States.Ticks and tick-borne diseases · 2023Review
- Tick-to-host transmission differs betweenMicrobiology spectrum · 2023Article
- Prevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi and diversity of its outer surface protein C (ospC) alleles in blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) in Delaware.Ticks and tick-borne diseases · 2023Article
- Phylodynamics of deer tick virus in North America.Virus evolution · 2023Article
- Maximum antigen diversification in a lyme bacterial population and evolutionary strategies to overcome pathogen diversity.The ISME journal · 2022Article
- Article
- A Borrelia burgdorferi outer surface protein C (OspC) genotyping method using Luminex technology.PloS one · 2022Article
- Competition between strains of Borrelia afzelii in the host tissues and consequences for transmission to ticks.The ISME journal · 2021Article
- Possible Effects of Climate Change on Ixodid Ticks and the Pathogens They Transmit: Predictions and Observations.Journal of medical entomology · 2021Article
- The evolution of hard tick-borne relapsing fever borreliae is correlated with vector species rather than geographical distance.BMC ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- Laboratory Diagnosis of Lyme Borreliosis.Clinical microbiology reviews · 2021Review
- Perpetuation of Borreliae.Current issues in molecular biology · 2021Article
- Article
69 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Over 80% of reported cases of Lyme disease in the United States occur in coastal regions of northeastern and mid-Atlantic states. The genetic structure of the Lyme disease spirochete (Borrelia burgdorferi) and its main tick vector (Ixodes scapularis) was studied concurrently and comparatively by sampling natural populations of I. scapularis ticks along the East Coast from 1996 to 1998. Borrelia is genetically highly diverse at the outer surface protein ospC. Since Borrelia is highly clonal, the ospC alleles can be used to define clones. A newly designed reverse line blotting (RLB) assay shows that up to 10 Borrelia clones can infect a single tick. The clone frequencies in Borrelia populations are the same across the Northeast. On the other hand, I. scapularis populations show strong regional divergence (among northeastern, mid-Atlantic, and southern states) as well as local differentiation. The high genetic diversity within Borrelia populations and the disparity in the genetic structure between Borrelia and its tick vector are likely consequences of strong balancing selection on local Borrelia clones. Demographically, both Borrelia and I. scapularis populations in the Northeast show the characteristics of a species that has recently expanded from a population bottleneck. Major geological and ecological events, such as the last glacial maximum (18,000 years ago) and the modern-day expansion of tick habitats, are likely causes of the observed "founder effects" for the two organisms in the Northeast. We therefore conclude that the genetic structure of B. burgdorferi has been intimately shaped by the natural history of its main vector, the northern lineage of I. scapularis ticks.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.