ArticlePLoS pathogens2021
Host tropism determination by convergent evolution of immunological evasion in the Lyme disease system.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Natural genetic variation impacts complement inhibitory activity of PFam54 orthologs of Asian Borrelia bavariensis.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Complement therapeutic factor H-IgG proteins as pre-exposure prophylaxes against Lyme borreliae infections.Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) · 2025Article
- Borrelia surface proteins: new horizons in Lyme disease diagnosis.Applied microbiology and biotechnology · 2025Review
- Article
- Tailored Functionalization of Plasmonic AgNPs/C:H:N:O Nanocomposite for Sensitive and Selective Detection.Journal of biophotonics · 2025Article
- The plasmid-encoded members of paralogous gene family 52 are dispensable to the enzootic cycle ofInfection and immunity · 2024Article
- Complement therapeutic Factor H-IgG proteins as pre-exposure prophylaxes against Lyme borreliae infections.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Article
- Mechanisms of host adaptation by bacterial pathogens.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2024Review
- Lizards and the enzootic cycle of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato.Molecular microbiology · 2024Review
- Unprecedented genetic variability of PFam54 paralogs among Eurasian Lyme borreliosis-causing spirochetes.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Structural evolution of an immune evasion determinant shapes pathogen host tropism.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- "Conformational dynamics of C1r inhibitor proteins from Lyme disease and relapsing fever spirochetes".bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Phylogenomic Diversity Elucidates Mechanistic Insights into Lyme Borreliae-Host Association.mSystems · 2022Article
- The Consistent Tick-Vertebrate Infectious Cycle of the Lyme Disease Spirochete Enables Borrelia burgdorferi To Control Protein Expression by Monitoring Its Physiological Status.Journal of bacteriology · 2022Review
- Lipoproteome screening of the Lyme disease agent identifies inhibitors of antibody-mediated complement killing.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- Utilizing Two Borrelia bavariensis Isolates Naturally Lacking the PFam54 Gene Array To Elucidate the Roles of PFam54-Encoded Proteins.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2022Article
- The evolving story of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato transmission in Europe.Parasitology research · 2022Review
- Cellular and immunological mechanisms influence host-adapted phenotypes in a vector-borne microparasite.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 7 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Pathogens possess the ability to adapt and survive in some host species but not in others-an ecological trait known as host tropism. Transmitted through ticks and carried mainly by mammals and birds, the Lyme disease (LD) bacterium is a well-suited model to study such tropism. Three main causative agents of LD, Borrelia burgdorferi, B. afzelii, and B. garinii, vary in host ranges through mechanisms eluding characterization. By feeding ticks infected with different Borrelia species, utilizing feeding chambers and live mice and quail, we found species-level differences in bacterial transmission. These differences localize on the tick blood meal, and specifically complement, a defense in vertebrate blood, and a polymorphic bacterial protein, CspA, which inactivates complement by binding to a host complement inhibitor, Factor H (FH). CspA selectively confers bacterial transmission to vertebrates that produce FH capable of allele-specific recognition. CspA is the only member of the Pfam54 gene family to exhibit host-specific FH-binding. Phylogenetic analyses revealed convergent evolution as the driver of such uniqueness, and that FH-binding likely emerged during the last glacial maximum. Our results identify a determinant of host tropism in Lyme disease infection, thus defining an evolutionary mechanism that shapes host-pathogen associations.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.