Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Ramamoorthi N
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4306560 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Jul
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Nature 20050701 7050
The Lyme disease agent, Borrelia burgdorferi, is maintained in a tick-mouse cycle. Here we show that B. burgdorferi usurps a tick salivary protein, Salp15 (ref. 3), to facilitate the infection of mice. The level of salp15 expression was selectively enhanced by the presence of B. burgdorferi in Ixodes scapularis, first indicating that spirochaetes might use Salp15 during transmission. Salp15 was then shown to adhere to the spirochaete, both in vitro and in vivo, and specifically interacted with B ...[more]