Table 3.
The ospC operator facilitates immune evasion of B. burgdorferia
No. of cultures positive/Total no. of specimens examined
|
||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Clone | Heart | Joint | Skin | All sites |
ΔospC/FL/1 | 10/10 | 10/10 | 10/10 | 30/30 |
Bp-C/1 | 0/5 | 0/5 | 3/5 | 3/15 |
Bp-C/2 | 0/5 | 0/5 | 4/5 | 4/15 |
Co1-Bp-C/1 | 3/5 | 5/5 | 5/5 | 13/15 |
Co1-Bp-C/2 | 3/5 | 4/5 | 5/5 | 12/15 |
Co2-Bp-C/1 | 4/5 | 2/5 | 5/5 | 11/15 |
Co2-Bp-C/2 | 4/5 | 3/5 | 5/5 | 12/15 |
Groups of five or 10 BALB/c mice were inoculated with the clone ΔospC/FL/1, Bp-C/1, Bp-C/2, Co1-Bp-C/1, Co1-Bp-C/2, Co2-Bp-C/1 or Co2-Bp-C/2. Mice were sacrificed 4 months post-inoculation. Heart, tibiotarsal joint and skin specimens were harvested and cultured for spirochetes in BSK-H complete medium. Fisher’s exact test P values were 0.01 and 1.2 × 10−4 between the genotypes Bp-C and Co1-Bp-C in heart and joint tissues, 7.1 × 10−4 and 0.03 between Bp-C and Co2-Bp-C in heart and joint tissues, and 0.63 and 0.14 between Co1-Bp-C and Co2-Bp-C in heart and joint tissues, respectively.