FIG 1.

bptA and pncA complementation of B. burgdorferi lacking lp25. (A) The borrelial shuttle vector pJH420 carries pncA and bptA with each gene's native promoter. The plasmid backbone is pBBE22, which includes bbe23 upstream of bbe22, with a modified MCS including LR Clonase sites. (B) PCR verification of pncA and bptA in ML23/pJH420 transformant. MSK5, the wild-type strain containing all plasmids, and ML23, an lp25-deficient derivative, serve as positive and negative controls, respectively, for pncA and bptA. ML23/pBBE22 and ML23/pJH420 were screened for genes pncA and bptA. (C) Western blot analysis of BptA production in the wild-type (MSK5), lp25(−) (ML23), and ML23/pJH420 strains. Borrelial cell lysates were immunoblotted and probed with antisera to the antigen indicated on the left. B. burgdorferi FlaB served as a loading control.