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Journal of Bacteriology, October 2001, p. 5544-5553, Vol. 183, No. 19
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.19.5544-5553.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Genetics and Regulation of Chitobiose Utilization in Borrelia burgdorferi

Kit Tilly,1,* Abdallah F. Elias,1 Jennifer Errett,1 Elizabeth Fischer,2 Radha Iyer,3 Ira Schwartz,3 James L. Bono,1,dagger and Patricia Rosa1

Laboratory of Human Bacterial Pathogenesis1 and Microscopy Branch,2 National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, Hamilton, Montana 59840, and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York 105953

Received 2 April 2001/Accepted 29 June 2001

Borrelia burgdorferi spends a significant proportion of its life cycle within an ixodid tick, which has a cuticle containing chitin, a polymer of N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc). The B. burgdorferi celA, celB, and celC genes encode products homologous to transporters for cellobiose and chitobiose (the dimer subunit of chitin) in other bacteria, which could be useful for bacterial nutrient acquisition during growth within ticks. We found that chitobiose efficiently substituted for GlcNAc during bacterial growth in culture medium. We inactivated the celB gene, which encodes the putative membrane-spanning component of the transporter, and compared growth of the mutant in various media to that of its isogenic parent. The mutant was no longer able to utilize chitobiose, while neither the mutant nor the wild type can utilize cellobiose. We propose renaming the three genes chbA, chbB, and chbC, since they probably encode a chitobiose transporter. We also found that the chbC gene was regulated in response to growth temperature and during growth in medium lacking GlcNAc.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: 903 S. 4th St., Hamilton, MT 59840. Phone: (406) 363-9239. Fax: (406) 363-9394. E-mail: ktilly{at}nih.gov.

dagger Present address: U.S. Meat Animal Research Center, USDA, ARS, Clay Center, NE 68933.

Journal of Bacteriology, October 2001, p. 5544-5553, Vol. 183, No. 19
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.19.5544-5553.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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