Figure 4.

Heat map of mutational frequencies in B31 VlsE and switching at vlsE in SCID versus WT mice. A, variant vlsE sequences were mapped onto the crystal structure of VlsE (47) (Protein Data Bank entry 1L8W) onto both protomers of the dimer structure. The frequency of mutation was depicted using a continuum of color with 0% change indicated by dark blue, ∼37% by green, ∼55% by yellow, and ∼74% by red. For a 360° rotation of the structure, see Video S1. B, the positions of purifying (red) and diversifying (green) mutations are shown on the crystal structure of B31 VlsE. Purifying residues are those with the highest SCID/WT ratios, and diversifying residues are those with the highest WT/SCID ratios. The dotted line is the axis of 180° rotational symmetry. For a 360° rotation of the structure, see Video S2. A and B are from Ref. 46. This research was originally published in Molecular Microbiology. Verhey, T. B., Castellanos, M., and Chaconas, G. Analysis of recombinational switching at the antigenic variation locus of the Lyme spirochete using a novel PacBio sequencing pipeline. Mol. Microbiol. 2018; 107:104–115. © John Wiley & Sons, Inc.