Genetic Analysis of the Flagellin Gene of Lyme Disease Spirochetes (Borrelia burgdorferi) Isolated from Rodents in Taiwan

The flagellin gene of Borrelia burgdorferi is highly conserved, and genomic analysis among Borrelia isolates using sequence similarity of a flagellin gene has been proven useful for the species identification and genomic typing of Borrelia spirochetes isolated from various biological and geographical sources. Thus, we analyzed the flagellin gene of Lyme disease spirochetes for the first time in Taiwan. Methods: The genetic identities of Taiwan isolates (TWKM1-7) were determined by comparing their sequence similarities of the PCR-amplified flagellin genes with three major genospecies of Lyme disease spirochetes. Their phylogenetic relationships were also analyzed by neighbour-joining and maximum parsimony methods. Results: The sequence similarity of Taiwan isolates revealed a highly homogeneous genotype, ranging from 97.8% to 100%, within the genospecies of B. burgdorferi sensu stricto and was clearly distinguished from other genospecies of Lyme disease spirochetes with a high sequence variability (＞4.9%) of the flagellin gene. In addition, phylogenetic analysis based on the flagellin gene also revealed a highly genetic divergence between Taiwan isolates and other Borrelia strains that were isolated from different biological and geographical sources. Conclusions: Our results provide the first investigation on the genetic identity of the flagellin gene of these Taiwan isolates and confirm that these Taiwan isolates are genetically related to the genospecies of B. burgdorferi sensu stricto.

並列關鍵字

lyme disease ； Borrelia burgdorferi ； Flagellin gene ； Taiwan

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