Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme disease spirochete, possesses genetically-encoded responses to doxycycline, but not to amoxicillin.
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ABSTRACT: Purpose: To determine whether Borrelia burgdorferi, the spirochetal agent of Lyme disease, responds to sub-lethal doses of antibiotics. Methods: mRNA profiles of Borrelia burgdorferi were compared after subculturing in 0.2μg/mL amoxicillin, 0.2μg/mL doxycycline, or media control for 3h or 24h (n=3 per group) by paired-end sequencing using the Illumina NextSeq 500. The sequence reads were aligned using Salmon aligner followed by DESeq2 for differential expression analysis. Results: After culturing for 24 h in a sub-lethal concentration of doxycycline, there were significant increases in a substantial number of transcripts for proteins that are involved with translation. Bacteria continued to elongate, but appeared to be defective in septation and formed filaments. In contrast, incubation with sublethal concentration of amoxicillin led to membrane blebbing and swelling, indicative of cell wall disruption, but no significant changes in levels of any bacterial transcript. Conclusion: We conclude that B. burgdorferi has a mechanism(s) that detects translational inhibition by doxycycline, and increases production of translational machinery in compensation. In contrast, The absence of response to the inhibition of cell wall synthesis by amoxicillin implies that B. burgdorferi lacks a mechanism to assess cell wall integrity.
ORGANISM(S): Borreliella burgdorferi
PROVIDER: GSE197338 | GEO | 2022/03/08
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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