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Science 19 June 1998:
Vol. 280. no. 5371, pp. 1938 - 1940
DOI: 10.1126/science.280.5371.1938
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Reports

Bloodstream- Versus Tick-Associated Variants of a Relapsing Fever Bacterium

Tom G. Schwan, * B. Joseph Hinnebusch

The relapsing fever spirochete, Borrelia hermsii, alternates infections between a mammal and a tick vector. Whether the spirochete changes phenotypically in the different hosts was examined by allowing the tick vector Ornithodoros hermsi to feed on mice infected with serotype 7 or serotype 8 of B. hermsii. Upon infection of ticks, the spirochetal serotype-specific variable major proteins (Vmps) 7 and 8 became undetectable and were replaced by Vmp33. This switch from a bloodstream- to tick-associated phenotype could be induced in culture by a decrease in temperature. After tick-bite transmission back to mice, the process was reversed and the spirochetes resumed expression of the same Vmp present in the previous infectious blood meal.

Laboratory of Microbial Structure and Function, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, MT 59840, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: tom_schwan{at}nih.gov

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