Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Bacteriology logoLink to Journal of Bacteriology
. 1997 Jan;179(2):552–556. doi: 10.1128/jb.179.2.552-556.1997

An unexpected flaA homolog is present and expressed in Borrelia burgdorferi.

Y Ge 1, N W Charon 1
PMCID: PMC178730  PMID: 8990312

Abstract

Most investigators have assumed that the periplasmic flagella (PFs) of Borrelia burgdorferi are composed of only one flagellin protein. The PFs of most other spirochete species are complex: these PFs contain an outer sheath of FlaA proteins and a core filament of FlaB proteins. During an analysis of a chemotaxis gene cluster of B. burgdorferi 212, we were surprised to find a flaA gene homolog with a deduced polypeptide having 54 to 58% similarity to FlaA from other spirochetes. Like other FlaA proteins, B. burgdorferi FlaA has a conserved signal sequence at its N terminus. Based on reverse transcription-PCR and primer extension analysis, this flaA homolog and five chemotaxis genes constitute a motility-chemotaxis operon. Immunoblots using anti-FlaA serum from Treponema pallidum and a lysate of B. burgdorferi showed strong reactivity to a protein of 38.0 kDa, which is consistent with the expression of flaA in growing cells.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (315.8 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Assous M. V., Postic D., Paul G., Névot P., Baranton G. Western blot analysis of sera from Lyme borreliosis patients according to the genomic species of the Borrelia strains used as antigens. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 1993 Apr;12(4):261–268. doi: 10.1007/BF01967256. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Barbour A. G., Hayes S. F., Heiland R. A., Schrumpf M. E., Tessier S. L. A Borrelia-specific monoclonal antibody binds to a flagellar epitope. Infect Immun. 1986 May;52(2):549–554. doi: 10.1128/iai.52.2.549-554.1986. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Brahamsha B., Greenberg E. P. Biochemical and cytological analysis of the complex periplasmic flagella from Spirochaeta aurantia. J Bacteriol. 1988 Sep;170(9):4023–4032. doi: 10.1128/jb.170.9.4023-4032.1988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Brahamsha B., Greenberg E. P. Cloning and sequence analysis of flaA, a gene encoding a Spirochaeta aurantia flagellar filament surface antigen. J Bacteriol. 1989 Mar;171(3):1692–1697. doi: 10.1128/jb.171.3.1692-1697.1989. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Brosius J. Plasmid vectors for the selection of promoters. Gene. 1984 Feb;27(2):151–160. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(84)90136-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Casjens S., Delange M., Ley H. L., 3rd, Rosa P., Huang W. M. Linear chromosomes of Lyme disease agent spirochetes: genetic diversity and conservation of gene order. J Bacteriol. 1995 May;177(10):2769–2780. doi: 10.1128/jb.177.10.2769-2780.1995. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Charon N. W., Greenberg E. P., Koopman M. B., Limberger R. J. Spirochete chemotaxis, motility, and the structure of the spirochetal periplasmic flagella. Res Microbiol. 1992 Jul-Aug;143(6):597–603. doi: 10.1016/0923-2508(92)90117-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Coleman J. L., Benach J. L. Identification and characterization of an endoflagellar antigen of Borrelia burgdorferi. J Clin Invest. 1989 Jul;84(1):322–330. doi: 10.1172/JCI114157. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Ge Y., Old I., Saint Girons I., Yelton D. B., Charon N. W. FliH and fliI of Borrelia burgdorferi are similar to flagellar and virulence factor export proteins of other bacteria. Gene. 1996 Feb 2;168(1):73–75. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(95)00743-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Goldstein S. F., Buttle K. F., Charon N. W. Structural analysis of the Leptospiraceae and Borrelia burgdorferi by high-voltage electron microscopy. J Bacteriol. 1996 Nov;178(22):6539–6545. doi: 10.1128/jb.178.22.6539-6545.1996. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Goldstein S. F., Charon N. W., Kreiling J. A. Borrelia burgdorferi swims with a planar waveform similar to that of eukaryotic flagella. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1994 Apr 12;91(8):3433–3437. doi: 10.1073/pnas.91.8.3433. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Hovind-Hougen K. Ultrastructure of spirochetes isolated from Ixodes ricinus and Ixodes dammini. Yale J Biol Med. 1984 Jul-Aug;57(4):543–548. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Isaacs R. D., Radolf J. D. Expression in Escherichia coli of the 37-kilodalton endoflagellar sheath protein of Treponema pallidum by use of the polymerase chain reaction and a T7 expression system. Infect Immun. 1990 Jul;58(7):2025–2034. doi: 10.1128/iai.58.7.2025-2034.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Johnson R. C., Marek N., Kodner C. Infection of Syrian hamsters with Lyme disease spirochetes. J Clin Microbiol. 1984 Dec;20(6):1099–1101. doi: 10.1128/jcm.20.6.1099-1101.1984. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Kimsey R. B., Spielman A. Motility of Lyme disease spirochetes in fluids as viscous as the extracellular matrix. J Infect Dis. 1990 Nov;162(5):1205–1208. doi: 10.1093/infdis/162.5.1205. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Koopman M. B., Baats E., van Vorstenbosch C. J., van der Zeijst B. A., Kusters J. G. The periplasmic flagella of Serpulina (Treponema) hyodysenteriae are composed of two sheath proteins and three core proteins. J Gen Microbiol. 1992 Dec;138(12):2697–2706. doi: 10.1099/00221287-138-12-2697. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Koopman M. B., de Leeuw O. S., van der Zeijst B. M., Kusters J. G. Cloning and DNA sequence analysis of a Serpulina (Treponema) hyodysenteriae gene encoding a periplasmic flagellar sheath protein. Infect Immun. 1992 Jul;60(7):2920–2925. doi: 10.1128/iai.60.7.2920-2925.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Kutsukake K., Ide N. Transcriptional analysis of the flgK and fliD operons of Salmonella typhimurium which encode flagellar hook-associated proteins. Mol Gen Genet. 1995 May 10;247(3):275–281. doi: 10.1007/BF00293195. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Limberger R. J., Slivienski L. L., El-Afandi M. C., Dantuono L. A. Organization, transcription, and expression of the 5' region of the fla operon of Treponema phagedenis and Treponema pallidum. J Bacteriol. 1996 Aug;178(15):4628–4634. doi: 10.1128/jb.178.15.4628-4634.1996. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Norris S. J., Charon N. W., Cook R. G., Fuentes M. D., Limberger R. J. Antigenic relatedness and N-terminal sequence homology define two classes of periplasmic flagellar proteins of Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum and Treponema phagedenis. J Bacteriol. 1988 Sep;170(9):4072–4082. doi: 10.1128/jb.170.9.4072-4082.1988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Norris S. J. Polypeptides of Treponema pallidum: progress toward understanding their structural, functional, and immunologic roles. Treponema Pallidum Polypeptide Research Group. Microbiol Rev. 1993 Sep;57(3):750–779. doi: 10.1128/mr.57.3.750-779.1993. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Parales J., Jr, Greenberg E. P. Analysis of the Spirochaeta aurantia flaA gene and transcript. FEMS Microbiol Lett. 1993 Feb 1;106(3):245–251. doi: 10.1111/j.1574-6968.1993.tb05971.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Pugsley A. P. The complete general secretory pathway in gram-negative bacteria. Microbiol Rev. 1993 Mar;57(1):50–108. doi: 10.1128/mr.57.1.50-108.1993. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Sadziene A., Thomas D. D., Bundoc V. G., Holt S. C., Barbour A. G. A flagella-less mutant of Borrelia burgdorferi. Structural, molecular, and in vitro functional characterization. J Clin Invest. 1991 Jul;88(1):82–92. doi: 10.1172/JCI115308. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Saint Girons I., Old I. G., Davidson B. E. Molecular biology of the Borrelia, bacteria with linear replicons. Microbiology. 1994 Aug;140(Pt 8):1803–1816. doi: 10.1099/13500872-140-8-1803. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Suk K., Das S., Sun W., Jwang B., Barthold S. W., Flavell R. A., Fikrig E. Borrelia burgdorferi genes selectively expressed in the infected host. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1995 May 9;92(10):4269–4273. doi: 10.1073/pnas.92.10.4269. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Szczepanski A., Benach J. L. Lyme borreliosis: host responses to Borrelia burgdorferi. Microbiol Rev. 1991 Mar;55(1):21–34. doi: 10.1128/mr.55.1.21-34.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Trueba G. A., Bolin C. A., Zuerner R. L. Characterization of the periplasmic flagellum proteins of Leptospira interrogans. J Bacteriol. 1992 Jul;174(14):4761–4768. doi: 10.1128/jb.174.14.4761-4768.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Wallich R., Moter S. E., Simon M. M., Ebnet K., Heiberger A., Kramer M. D. The Borrelia burgdorferi flagellum-associated 41-kilodalton antigen (flagellin): molecular cloning, expression, and amplification of the gene. Infect Immun. 1990 Jun;58(6):1711–1719. doi: 10.1128/iai.58.6.1711-1719.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Wilson D. R., Beveridge T. J. Bacterial flagellar filaments and their component flagellins. Can J Microbiol. 1993 May;39(5):451–472. doi: 10.1139/m93-066. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Bacteriology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES