Borrelia burgdorferi NEU2011

Borrelia burgforferi NEU2011

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A Microbial Biorealm page on the genus Borrelia burgdorferi NEU2011

Higher Order Taxa for Borellia burgdorferi:

Domain- Bacteria; Phylum- Spirochaetes; Class- "Spirochaetes"; Order- Spirochaetales; Family- Spirochaetaceae; Genus- Borrelia; Species- Borellia burgdorferi

Description and Significance

Borellia burgdorferi is a spirochete which are cells that are both gram-negative and spiral-shaped with endoflagellum. The study of Borellia burgdorferi is very significant because it is the tick-borne agent of Lyme disease. Lyme disease is carried out by Borrelia burgdorferi, and transmitted through deer ticks which are known as Ixodes dammini (2). Lyme disease causes inflammation all around the body, arthritis, heart problems and can also affect the nervous system.

Genome Structure

The Borrelia burgdorferi genome contains 1,521,208 base pairs with the number of G+C bases totaling 28%. It has a total of 22 DNA molecules including 21 extrachromosomal DNA elements, the largest known number of any bacterium (1). These include 12 linear and 9 circular plasmids which range from 5 to 56 kilobases (3). The plasmids contain a total of 1706 genes, including many pseudogenes, which suggests that the genome is actively evolving.

Cell Structure and Metabolism

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Ecology

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Pathology

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Current Research

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Cool Factor

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References

1. Casjens, S., Palmer, N., Van Vugt, R., Mun Huang, W., Stevenson, B., Rosa, P., Lathigra, R., Sutton, G., Peterson, J., Dodson, R. J., Haft, D., Hickey, E., Gwinn, M., White, O. and M. Fraser, C. (2000), A bacterial genome in flux: the twelve linear and nine circular extrachromosomal DNAs in an infectious isolate of the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi. Molecular Microbiology, 35: 490–516. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2958.2000.01698.x

2. Meyerhoff, John O. 2009. Lyme Disease. E-Medicine from WebMD, __________________________

3. Norris, Steven J. 2006. The dynamic proteome of Lyme disease Borrelia. Genome Biology, 7:209 doi:10.1186/gb-2006-7-3-209.