ArticleThe Journal of clinical investigation2009
Live imaging reveals a biphasic mode of dissemination of Borrelia burgdorferi within ticks.
Article in The Journal of clinical investigation, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 157 papers.
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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
157 citing papers in PubMed.
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- Heritable immunization of mice against Lyme disease enables ecological disease prevention.Nature communications · 2026Article
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- Dissection of amino acid acquisition pathways demonstrates that amino acid starvation of Borrelia burgdorferi results in a (p)ppGpp-independent maladaptive response.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Lipid scavenging by the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi.PLoS pathogens · 2025Article
- Targeted volume imaging reveals early vascular interactions of Lyme disease pathogen in skin.Nature communications · 2025Article
- A Deep Learning Approach for Classifying Developmental Stages ofSensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
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- MCP5, a methyl-accepting chemotaxis protein regulated by both the Hk1-Rrp1 and Rrp2-RpoN-RpoS pathways, is required for the immune evasion of Borrelia burgdorferi.PLoS pathogens · 2024Article
- Analysis of bb0556 Expression and Its Role During Borrelia burgdorferi Mammalian Infection.Molecular microbiology · 2024Article
- Broadly conserved FlgV controls flagellar assembly and Borrelia burgdorferi dissemination in mice.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Development and utilization ofbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- The plasmid-encoded members of paralogous gene family 52 are dispensable to the enzootic cycle ofInfection and immunity · 2024Article
- Hitchhiker's Guide toJournal of bacteriology · 2024Review
- Development and validation of systems for genetic manipulation of the Old World tick-borne relapsing fever spirochete, Borrelia duttonii.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2024Article
97 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
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Lyme disease is caused by transmission of the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi from ticks to humans. Although much is known about B. burgdorferi replication, the routes and mechanisms by which it disseminates within the tick remain unclear. To better understand this process, we imaged live, infectious B. burgdorferi expressing a stably integrated, constitutively expressed GFP reporter. Using isolated tick midguts and salivary glands, we observed B. burgdorferi progress through the feeding tick via what we believe to be a novel, biphasic mode of dissemination. In the first phase, replicating spirochetes, positioned at varying depths throughout the midgut at the onset of feeding, formed networks of nonmotile organisms that advanced toward the basolateral surface of the epithelium while adhering to differentiating, hypertrophying, and detaching epithelial cells. In the second phase of dissemination, the nonmotile spirochetes transitioned into motile organisms that penetrated the basement membrane and entered the hemocoel, then migrated to and entered the salivary glands. We designated the first phase of dissemination "adherence-mediated migration" and provided evidence that it involves the inhibition of spirochete motility by one or more diffusible factors elaborated by the feeding tick midgut. Our studies, which we believe are the first to relate the transmission dynamics of spirochetes to the complex morphological and developmental changes that the midgut and salivary glands undergo during engorgement, challenge the conventional viewpoint that dissemination of Lyme disease-causing spirochetes within ticks is exclusively motility driven.
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