Open AccessIsolation and transmission of the Lyme disease spirochete from the southeastern United States.
Author(s) -
James H. Oliver,
Francis W. Chandler,
M. Page Luttrell,
Angela M. James,
David E. Stallknecht,
Byron S. McGuire,
H. Joel Hutcheson,
Gregory A. Cummins,
Robert S. Lane
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.90.15.7371
Subject(s) - ixodes scapularis , amblyomma americanum , borrelia burgdorferi , lyme disease , biology , virology , tick , peromyscus , polymerase chain reaction , microbiology and biotechnology , antibody , ixodidae , gene , genetics , zoology
The isolation of the Lyme disease spirochete (Borrelia burgdorferi) from the southeastern United States is reported. Three isolates, two from cotton mice (Peromyscus gossypinus) and one from the black-legged tick (Ixodes scapularis), were recovered from Sapelo Island, Georgia, in July and September 1991. The spirochetes were characterized by indirect fluorescent antibody assay using a battery of five monoclonal antibodies, by sodium dodecyl sulfate/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS/PAGE) of whole cell lysates, and by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay using primers for three DNA target sequences found in B. burgdorferi reference strain B-31. Transmission experiments indicate that the three Georgia isolates can infect experimentally inoculated hamsters and mice. Tick transmission of one of the isolates has been attempted so far; I. scapularis transmitted isolate SI-1 from hamsters to mice, but the lone-star tick, Amblyomma americanum, did not.