Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Nat Rev Microbiol. 2020 Oct;18(10):587-600. doi: 10.1038/s41579-020-0400-5. Epub 2020 Jul 10.
Borrelia burgdorferi is the causative agent of Lyme disease and is transmitted to vertebrate hosts by Ixodes spp. ticks. The spirochaete relies heavily on its arthropod host for basic metabolic functions and has developed complex interactions with ticks to successfully colonize, persist and, at the optimal time, exit the tick. For example, proteins shield spirochaetes from immune factors in the bloodmeal and facilitate the transition between vertebrate and arthropod environments. On infection, B. burgdorferi induces selected tick proteins that modulate the vector gut microbiota towards an environment that favours colonization by the spirochaete. Additionally, the recent sequencing of the Ixodes scapularis genome and characterization of tick immune defence pathways, such as the JAK-STAT, immune deficiency and cross-species interferon-γ pathways, have advanced our understanding of factors that are important for B. burgdorferi persistence in the tick. In this Review, we summarize interactions between B. burgdorferi and I. scapularis during infection, as well as interactions with tick gut and salivary gland proteins important for establishing infection and transmission to the vertebrate host.
伯氏疏螺旋体是莱姆病的病原体，通过硬蜱属的蜱传播给脊椎动物宿主。旋体菌严重依赖节肢动物宿主来完成基本的代谢功能，并与蜱类动物形成了复杂的相互作用，以成功定殖、持续存在，并在最佳时机从蜱类动物中退出。例如，蛋白质可以保护螺旋体免受血液中的免疫因子的影响，并促进脊椎动物和节肢动物环境之间的转换。在感染过程中，伯氏疏螺旋体会诱导选定的蜱蛋白，使媒介肠道微生物群向有利于螺旋体定殖的环境转变。此外，最近对肩突硬蜱基因组的测序和对蜱类免疫防御途径（如 JAK-STAT、免疫缺陷和种间干扰素-γ途径）的特征分析，提高了我们对伯氏疏螺旋体在蜱类中持续存在的重要因素的认识。在这篇综述中，我们总结了伯氏疏螺旋体与肩突硬蜱在感染过程中的相互作用，以及与蜱类肠道和唾液腺蛋白的相互作用，这些蛋白对建立感染和向脊椎动物宿主传播至关重要。
