English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Background  Lyme disease, caused by  Borrelia burgdorferi , affects a large number of people in both the USA and Europe. The mouse is a natural host for this spirochete and is widely used as a model system to study Lyme pathogenesis mechanisms. Since disease manifestations often depend upon the spirochete burden in a particular tissue, it is critical to accurately measure the bacterial number in infected tissues. The current methods either lack sensitivity and specificity (SYBR Green), or require independent analysis of samples in parallel to quantitate host and bacterial DNA (TaqMan). We have developed a novel molecular beacon-based convenient multiplex real-time quantitative PCR assay to identify and detect small numbers of  B. burgdorferi  in infected mouse tissues.    Results  We show here that molecular beacons are effective, sensitive and specific probes for detecting and estimating wide-ranging numbers of  B. burgdorferi  in the presence of mouse DNA. In our assays, the spirochete  recA  and the mouse  nidogen  gene amplicons were detected simultaneously using molecular beacons labeled with different fluorophores. We further validated the application of these probes by quantifying the wild-type strain and  bgp -defective mutant of  B. burgdorferi . The  bgp -defective mutant shows a ten-fold reduction in the level of spirochetes present in various tissues.    Conclusion  The high sensitivity and specificity of molecular beacons makes them superior probes for the detection of small numbers of  B. burgdorferi . Furthermore, the use of molecular beacons can be expanded for the simultaneous detection and quantification of multiple pathogens in the infected hosts, including humans, and in the arthropod vectors.

Detection and quantification of Lyme spirochetes using sensitive and specific molecular beacon probes