Genetic Diversity of Borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Lato Isolated in Far Eastern Russia

• Published in: MICROBIOLOGY and IMMUNOLOGY Vol. 41; no. 8; pp. 595 - 600
• Main Authors: Masuzawa, Toshiyuki, Iwaki, Atsue, Sato, Yukita, Miyamoto, Kenji, Korenberg, Edward I., Yanagihara, Yasutake
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Australia Blackwell Publishing Ltd 1997; Center For Academic Publications Japan
• Subjects: Animals; Antibodies, Monoclonal; Antibody Specificity; Borrelia; Borrelia burgdorferi; Borrelia burgdorferi Group - classification; Borrelia burgdorferi Group - genetics; Borrelia burgdorferi Group - immunology; Clethrionomys rufocanus; DNA, Bacterial - analysis; Far east; Genetic Variation; Intergenic spacer; Ixodes - immunology; Ixodes persulcatus; Lyme disease; Lyme Disease - microbiology; Molecular Sequence Data; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; rRNA; Russia; Russia
• ISSN: 0385-5600; 1348-0421
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1997.tb01897.x

One-hundred and fifty-seven Borrelia isolated from adult ticks, Ixodes persulcatus, and wild rodents, Clethrionomys rufocanus and Apodemus peninsulae, in the far eastern part of Russia were characterized and identified by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of the 5S-23S rRNA intergenic spacer. Some isolates showed unique RFLP patterns and were determined as Borrelia garinii on the basis of a sequence analysis of the intergenic spacer amplicon and reactivity with species-specific monoclonal antibodies (MAbs). 86.5 and 12.7% of the tick isolates, and 74.2 and 12.9% of the rodent isolates were determined as Borrelia garinii and Borrelia afzelii, respectively, but no Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto was detected. This finding is similar to the results obtained from Borrelia surveys of I. persulcatus and wild rodents in Hokkaido, Japan.