ArticlePLoS pathogens2014
Inactivation of genes for antigenic variation in the relapsing fever spirochete Borrelia hermsii reduces infectivity in mice and transmission by ticks.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 46 papers.
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Who cites it
46 citing papers in PubMed, 56 citations in OpenAlex.
- Relapsing fever revisited: New insights into neglected borrelial infections.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Review
- Metabolic regulation of the carbonyl stress pathway and methylglyoxal in Lyme disease and relapsing fever spirochetes.PLoS pathogens · 2026Article
- Genomic and structural analysis of major antigenic proteins' variability in the human relapsing fever spirocheteCurrent research in microbial sciences · 2026Article
- Antigenic variation is caused by long plasmid segment conversion in a hard tick-borne relapsing fever Borrelia miyamotoi.PLoS pathogens · 2025Article
- Development and validation of systems for genetic manipulation of the Old World tick-borne relapsing fever spirochete, Borrelia duttonii.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2024Article
- Composition and transstadial retention of the salivary glands in Ornithodoros hermsi (Acari: Argasidae).Journal of medical entomology · 2024Article
- Isolation and Genetic Characterization of the Human Relapsing Fever SpirocheteTransboundary and emerging diseases · 2024Article
- Comparative genomics analysis of three conserved plasmid families in the Western Hemisphere soft tick-borne relapsing fever borreliae provides insight into variation in genome structure and antigenic variation systems.Microbiology spectrum · 2023Article
- Comparative genomics analysis of three conserved plasmid families in the Western Hemisphere soft tick-borne relapsing fever borreliae provides insight into variation in genome structure and antigenic variation systems.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Article
- Kinetics of tick infection by the relapsing fever spirochete Borrelia hermsii acquired through artificial membrane feeding chambers.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Deletion of a Genetic Region of lp17 Affects Plasmid Copy Number inFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2022Article
- Potential Regulatory Role in Mammalian Host Adaptation for a Small Intergenic Region of Lp17 in the Lyme Disease Spirochete.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2022Article
- The Symbiotic Continuum Within Ticks: Opportunities for Disease Control.Frontiers in microbiology · 2022Review
- Review
- Transovarial Transmission ofMicroorganisms · 2021Article
- Vector Specificity of the Relapsing Fever Spirochete Borrelia hermsii (Spirochaetales: Borreliaceae) for the Tick Ornithodoros hermsi (Acari: Argasidae) Involves Persistent Infection of the Salivary Glands.Journal of medical entomology · 2021Article
- The First Immunocompetent Mouse Model of Strictly Human Pathogen, Borrelia recurrentis.Infection and immunity · 2021Article
- Interaction between Borrelia miyamotoi variable major proteins Vlp15/16 and Vlp18 with plasminogen and complement.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Genetic Manipulation ofCurrent issues in molecular biology · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Borrelia hermsii, a causative agent of relapsing fever of humans in western North America, is maintained in enzootic cycles that include small mammals and the tick vector Ornithodoros hermsi. In mammals, the spirochetes repeatedly evade the host's acquired immune response by undergoing antigenic variation of the variable major proteins (Vmps) produced on their outer surface. This mechanism prolongs spirochete circulation in blood, which increases the potential for acquisition by fast-feeding ticks and therefore perpetuation of the spirochete in nature. Antigenic variation also underlies the relapsing disease observed when humans are infected. However, most spirochetes switch off the bloodstream Vmp and produce a different outer surface protein, the variable tick protein (Vtp), during persistent infection in the tick salivary glands. Thus the production of Vmps in mammalian blood versus Vtp in ticks is a dominant feature of the spirochete's alternating life cycle. We constructed two mutants, one which was unable to produce a Vmp and the other was unable to produce Vtp. The mutant lacking a Vmp constitutively produced Vtp, was attenuated in mice, produced lower cell densities in blood, and was unable to relapse in animals after its initial spirochetemia. This mutant also colonized ticks and was infectious by tick-bite, but remained attenuated compared to wild-type and reconstituted spirochetes. The mutant lacking Vtp also colonized ticks but produced neither Vtp nor a Vmp in tick salivary glands, which rendered the spirochete noninfectious by tick bite. Thus the ability of B. hermsii to produce Vmps prolonged its survival in blood, while the synthesis of Vtp was essential for mammalian infection by the bite of its tick vector.
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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.