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Journal of Bacteriology, June 2000, p. 3597-3601, Vol. 182, No. 12
0021-9193/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Cryptic and Exposed Invariable Regions of VlsE, the Variable Surface Antigen of Borrelia burgdorferi sl

Fang Ting Liang, Jena M. Nowling, and Mario T. Philipp*

Department of Parasitology, Tulane Regional Primate Research Center, Tulane University Medical Center, Covington, Louisiana 70433

Received 22 November 1999/Accepted 24 March 2000

Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme disease spirochete, possesses a surface protein, VlsE, which undergoes antigenic variation. VlsE contains two invariable domains and a variable one that includes six variable and six invariable regions (IRs). Five of the IRs are conserved among strains and genospecies of B. burgdorferi sensu lato. IR6 is conserved, immunodominant, and exposed at the VlsE surface but not at the spirochete surface, as assessed in vitro. In the present study, the remaining conserved IRs (IR2 to IR5) were investigated. Antisera to synthetic peptides based on each of the IR2 to IR5 sequences were produced in rabbits. Antipeptide antibody titers were similarly high in all antisera. Native VlsE was immunoprecipitable with antibodies to IR2, IR4, and IR5 but not to IR3, indicating that the first three sequences were exposed at the VlsE surface. However, negative surface immunofluorescence and in vitro antibody-mediated killing results indicated that none of the IRs were accessible to antibody at the spirochetal surface in vitro.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Tulane Regional Primate Research Center, Tulane University Medical Center, 18703 Three Rivers Rd., Covington, LA 70433. Phone: (504) 871-6221. Fax: (504) 871-6390. E-mail: philipp{at}tpc.tulane.edu.

Journal of Bacteriology, June 2000, p. 3597-3601, Vol. 182, No. 12
0021-9193/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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