Figure 5.

Verification of the in cis vmp _Ex complemented clone and the upstream homology sequence (UHS)/downstream homology sequence (DHS) mutants. (a) DNA hybridization with an lpE27 specific probe and a kan ^R probe to wild‐type (WT) Borrelia hermsii, Bh::Comp, Bh::UHS_AS, and Bh::DHS_ΔIR plasmid DNA. Selected molecular weight standards (mws) are shown on left. (b) Surface proteolysis and immunoblot of the in cis vmp _Ex complemented clone and UHS/DHS mutants with Anti‐VlpA7 antibodies. All clones were proteinase K (pk) treated (+) and untreated (−) to detect surface localization of variable major proteins. Anti‐FlaB immunoblots served as a loading control