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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, January 2008, p. 153-157, Vol. 74, No. 1
0099-2240/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01567-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Fitness Variation of Borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Stricto Strains in Mice{triangledown}

Klára Hanincová,1* Nicholas H. Ogden,2 Maria Diuk-Wasser,1 Christopher J. Pappas,3 Radha Iyer,3 Durland Fish,1 Ira Schwartz,3 and Klaus Kurtenbach1,{dagger}

Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale School of Medicine, Yale University, 60 College Street, New Haven, Connecticut 06520,1 Public Health Agency of Canada, Foodborne, Waterborne and Zoonotic Infections Divisions, Center for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Université de Montréal, C.P. 5000, Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec J2S 7C6, Canada,2 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York 105953

Received 10 July 2007/ Accepted 24 October 2007

Lyme borreliosis in North America is caused by the tick-borne spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, a zoonotic bacterium that is able to persistently infect a wide range of vertebrate species. Given the pronounced strain structure of B. burgdorferi in the northeastern United States, we asked whether the fitness of the different genotypes varies among susceptible vertebrate hosts. The transmission dynamics of two genetically divergent human isolates of B. burgdorferi, BL206 and B348, were analyzed experimentally in white-footed mice and in C3H/HeNCrl mice over a time period of almost 3 months. We found that the initially high transmission efficiency from white-footed mice to ticks declined sharply for isolate B348 but remained considerably high for isolate BL206. In contrast, in C3H/HeNCrl mice, high transmission efficiency persisted for both isolates. Our findings provide proof-of-principle evidence for intrinsic fitness variation of B. burgdorferi strains in vertebrate host species, perhaps indicating the beginnings of adaptive radiation.

* Corresponding author. Present address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY 10595. Phone: (914) 594-4185. Fax: (914) 594-4176. E-mail: klara_hanincova{at}nymc.edu

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 2 November 2007.

{dagger} Present address: Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, United Kingdom.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, January 2008, p. 153-157, Vol. 74, No. 1
0099-2240/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01567-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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