Document Type

Article

Disciplines

Life Sciences | Medicine and Health Sciences

Abstract

While the roles of rpoSBb and RpoS-dependent genes have been studied extensively within the mammal, the contribution of the RpoS regulon to the tick-phase of the Borrelia burgdorferi enzootic cycle has not been examined. Herein, we demonstrate that RpoS-dependent gene expression is prerequisite for the transmission of spirochetes by feeding nymphs. RpoS-deficient organisms are confined to the midgut lumen where they transform into an unusual morphotype (round bodies) during the later stages of the blood meal. We show that round body formation is rapidly reversible, and in vitro appears to be attributable, in part, to reduced levels of Coenzyme A disulfide reductase, which among other functions, provides NAD+ for glycolysis. Our data suggest that spirochetes default to an RpoS-independent program for round body formation upon sensing that the energetics for transmission are unfavorable.

Comments

Citation: Dunham-Ems SM, Caimano MJ, Eggers CH, Radolf JD (2012) Borrelia burgdorferi Requires the Alternative Sigma Factor RpoS for Dissemination within the Vector during Tick-to-Mammal Transmission. PLoS Pathog 8(2): e1002532. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1002532

Copyright: © 2012 Dunham-Ems et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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