Delineation of a new species of Borrelia

J Clin Microbiol. 2009 Oct 21; [Epub ahead of print]

Delineation of a new species of the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex,
Borrelia americana sp.nov.

Rudenko N, Golovchenko M, Lin T, Gao L, Grubhoffer L, Oliver JH Jr.

Georgia Southern University, James H. Oliver, Jr. Institute of Arthropodology
and Parasitology, Statesboro, GA, 30460-8056, USA; Biology Centre, Institute of
Parasitology AS CR and Faculty of Sciences University of South Bohemia, eske
Budjovice, 37005, Czech Republic.

Analysis of borrelia isolates collected from ticks, birds and rodents from the
southeastern United States revealed the presence of well established populations
of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, Borrelia bissettii, Borrelia carolinensis
and Borrelia sp. nov. Multilocus sequence analysis of five genomic loci from
seven samples representing Borrelia sp. nov. isolated from nymphal Ixodes minor
collected in South Carolina showed their close relatedness to California strains
known as genomospecies 1 and separation from any other known species of B.
burgdorferi sensu lato complex. One nucleotide difference in the size of 5S-23S
intergenic spacer region, 1 substitution in 16S rRNA gene signature nucleotides,
and silent nucleotide substitutions in sequences of flagellin and p66 genes
clearly separate Borrelia sp. nov. isolates from South Carolina into two
subgroups. The sequences of isolates of each subgroup share the same RFLP
patterns of 5S-23S intergenic spacer region and contain unique signature
nucleotides in the 16S rRNA gene. We propose that seven Borrelia sp. nov.
isolates from South Carolina and two California isolates designated as
genomospecies 1 comprise a single species which we name Borrelia americana sp.
nov. The currently recognized geographic distribution of B. americana is South
Carolina and California. All strains are associated with Ixodes pacificus or
Ixodes minor and their rodent and bird hosts.

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PMID: 19846628  [PubMed – as supplied by publisher]