Shih Chien-Ming, Chao Li-Lian
Department of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine, National Defense Medical Center, Neihu, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2002 May;66(5):611-5. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.2002.66.611.
To further identify the genospecies of Lyme disease spirochetes (Borrelia burgdorferi) isolated in Taiwan, we analyzed the genomic identities of these Taiwan isolates (TWKM1-7) by genospecies-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay, restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis, and gene sequencing based on the OspA gene sequences of B. burgdorferi sensu lato. PCR analysis indicates that all of these Taiwan isolates were genetically related to the genospecies of B. burgdorferi sensu stricto by their differential reactivities with genospecies-specific PCR primers. After cleavage by DraI, three different RFLP patterns in relation to three different genospecies of Lyme disease spirochetes were observed, and all of these Taiwan isolates were affiliated with the genospecies of B. burgdorferi sensu stricto. The phylogenetic analysis also reveals that the sequence similarity of PCR-amplified OspA gene of these Taiwan isolates is highly homogeneous, with a homogeneity of more than 99.8% within the genospecies of B. burgdorferi sensu stricto. These results confirm that the genomic identities of these Taiwan isolates belong to the genospecies of B. burgdorferi sensu stricto.
为进一步鉴定在台湾分离出的莱姆病螺旋体（伯氏疏螺旋体）的基因种，我们通过基因种特异性聚合酶链反应（PCR）检测、限制性片段长度多态性（RFLP）分析以及基于伯氏疏螺旋体狭义种OspA基因序列的基因测序，分析了这些台湾分离株（TWKM1 - 7）的基因组同一性。PCR分析表明，通过它们与基因种特异性PCR引物的不同反应性，所有这些台湾分离株在基因上都与狭义伯氏疏螺旋体基因种相关。经DraI酶切后，观察到与三种不同莱姆病螺旋体基因种相关的三种不同RFLP模式，并且所有这些台湾分离株都隶属于狭义伯氏疏螺旋体基因种。系统发育分析还显示，这些台湾分离株的PCR扩增OspA基因的序列相似性高度一致，在狭义伯氏疏螺旋体基因种内的一致性超过99.8%。这些结果证实，这些台湾分离株的基因组同一性属于狭义伯氏疏螺旋体基因种。
