Homology of variable major protein genes between Borrelia hermsii and Borrelia miyamotoi

Structural analysis of the variable major proteins of Borrelia hermsii

Borrelia hermsii undergoes spontaneous antigenic variation in vivo and in vitro. Serotype specificity is associated with expression of one of a family of molecular weight-variable proteins, the pI proteins. We studied the structure of the pI proteins as well as the molecular weight-invariable pII proteins of three serotypes of B. hermsii HS1: C, 7, and 21. The techniques used were one-dimension...

Etymologia: Borrelia miyamotoi

Borrelia hermsii relapsing fever.

A 49-year-old healthy female presented to the emergency department with a headache, fever to 103°F, mild myalgia, heart rate of 119 bpm, and blood pressure of 80/40 mm Hg. Past medical history was unremarkable, no drug allergies or current medications, except for a recent vacation in eastern Washington state. The complete blood count showed a white blood cell count of 12.5 3 10E9/L (mild leukoc...

Antigenic variation of Borrelia hermsii

At least 24 different serotypes were detected in populations of Borrelia hermsii that originated from a single organism. These serotypes were identified by staining with specific fluoresceinated antisera prepared against cloned populations of living organisms of each type. In the order of decreasing frequency, the 10 types more often encountered were 7, which was clearly dominant, and 2, 17, 24...

Variable major proteins of Borrelia hermsii. Epitope mapping and partial sequence analysis of CNBr peptides

The variable major proteins (VMP) of serotypes 7 and 21 of the relapsing fever agent Borrelia hermsii were isolated by detergent extraction and high performance liquid chromatography. Cyanogen bromide (CNBr) digestion of the isolated VMP yielded two peptides of apparent molecular weights 20,000 (20 K) and 16 K from VMP7, and three peptides of 14.5, 14, and 7 K mol wt from VMP21. Serotype-specif...