The Journal of Experimental Medicine
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Published online 23 February 2004 doi:10.1084/jem.20031960
Rockefeller University Press, 0022-1007 $8.00
JEM, Volume 199, Number 5, 641-648
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Essential Role for OspA/B in the Life Cycle of the Lyme Disease Spirochete

Xiaofeng F. Yang1, Utpal Pal2, Sophie M. Alani1, Erol Fikrig2, and Michael V. Norgard1

1 Department of Microbiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390
2 Section of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520

Address correspondence to Michael V. Norgard, Dept. of Microbiology, U.T. Southwestern Medical Center, 6000 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX 75390-9048. Phone: (214) 648-5900; Fax: (214) 648-5905; email: michael.norgard{at}utsouthwestern.edu

The molecular basis of how Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb), the Lyme disease spirochete, maintains itself in nature via a complex life cycle in ticks and mammals is poorly understood. Outer surface (lipo)protein A (OspA) of Bb has been the most intensively studied of all borrelial molecular constituents, and hence, much has been speculated about the potential role(s) of OspA in the life cycle of Bb. However, the precise function of OspA (along with that of its close relative and operonic partner, outer surface [lipo]protein B [OspB]) heretofore has not been directly determined, due primarily to the inability to generate an OspA/B-deficient mutant from a virulent strain of Bb. In this study, we created an OspA/B-deficient mutant of an infectious human isolate of Bb (strain 297) and found that OspA/B function was not required for either Bb infection of mice or accompanying tissue pathology. However, OspA/B function was essential for Bb colonization of and survival within tick midguts, events crucial for sustaining Bb in its natural enzootic life cycle.

Key Words: Lyme disease • OspA • lipoprotein • arthropod vector • Borrelia burgdorferi

The online version of this article includes supplemental material.

X.F. Yang and U. Pal contributed equally to this work.

Abbreviations used in this paper: Bb, Borrelia burgdorferi; OspA, outer surface (lipo)protein A; OspB, outer surface (lipo)protein B; Strep, streptomycin; Strepr, streptomycin resistance.


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