Fig 5.

Representative immunoblots of protein levels in wild-type Borrelia burgdorferi cultured at either 23 or 34°C. B. burgdorferi produce appreciably greater levels of Erp proteins when cultured at 34°C compared with results at 23°C (58, 62). The same bacterial lysates were used for each immunoblot shown. The constitutively expressed FlaB (flagellin) protein was also examined, to serve as a control for equal loading of wells. Comparing results at 23°C versus those at 34°C for these cultures, ErpA levels increased 2.1-fold, BpaB decreased 1.5-fold, and EbfC increased 1.7-fold. This BpaB antiserum, raised against the allele carried by lp56, recognized two of the bacterium's BpaB proteins, both of which were affected by culture temperature in the same manner. The observed differential expression of the EbfC protein corresponds with results of previous studies which found the same effect on ebfC transcript levels (44).