Figure 8.

Diagram summarizing results of these and previous studies of B. burgdorferi BpuR. B. burgdorferi within unfed ticks produced high levels of bpuR transcript. As ticks feed, levels of bpuR transcript were reduced. B. burgdorferi within infected vertebrates did not produce detectable levels of bpuR mRNA. The extent to which B. burgdorferi replicates during vertebrate infection is not currently known. The DnaA protein binds to a DNA site that is adjacent to the bpuR transcriptional promoter. The promoter of the divergently transcribed tRNA^Gly has not been precisely mapped, but spacing indicates that the −10 and −35 sequences must either overlap the bpuR promoter or be located 3′ of the bpuR promoter. The BpuR homodimer was previously found to bind its own mRNA and repress translation (Jutras et al., 2013d). BpuR also binds to sodA mRNA 5′ of the translational start site. Results from the current studies indicate that BpuR inhibits SodA translation. The three‐dimensional image of the BpuR homodimer is adapted from its solved structure, www.rcsb.org/3d-view/3NM7 (Graebsch et al., 2010). Image produced with BioRender (biorender.com).