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Journal of Bacteriology, August 2002, p. 4536-4543, Vol. 184, No. 16
0021-9193/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.184.16.4536-4543.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Simultaneous Coexpression of Borrelia burgdorferi Erp Proteins Occurs through a Specific, erp Locus-Directed Regulatory Mechanism

Nazira El-Hage and Brian Stevenson*

Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, Kentucky 40536-0298

Received 12 March 2002/ Accepted 21 May 2002

An individual Borrelia burgdorferi bacterium can encode as many as 13 different Erp (OspE/F-related) proteins from mono-and bicistronic loci that are carried on up to 10 separate plasmids. We demonstrate through multilabel immunofluorescence analyses that individual bacteria simultaneously coexpress their entire Erp protein repertoire. While it has been proposed that B. burgdorferi controls expression of Erp and other plasmid-encoded proteins through changes in DNA topology, we observed regulated Erp expression in the absence of detectable differences in DNA supercoiling. Likewise, inhibition of DNA gyrase had no detectable effect on Erp expression. Furthermore, expression of loci physically adjacent to erp loci was observed to be independently regulated. It is concluded that Erp expression is regulated by a mechanism(s) directed at erp loci and not by a global, plasmid-wide mechanism.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, MS 417 Chandler Medical Center, Lexington, KY 40536-0298. Phone: (859) 257-9358. Fax: (859) 257-8994. E-mail: bstev0{at}uky.edu.

Journal of Bacteriology, August 2002, p. 4536-4543, Vol. 184, No. 16
0021-9193/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.184.16.4536-4543.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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