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Using multilocus sequence analyses (MLSA), we investigated the phylogenetic relationship of spirochaete strains from North America previously assigned to the genospecies Borrelia bissettii. We amplified internal fragments of 8 housekeeping genes (clpA, clpX, nifS, pepX, pyrG, recG, rplB, and uvrA) located on the main linear chromosome by polymerase chain reaction. Phylogenetic analysis of concatenated sequences of the 8 loci showed that the B. bissettii clade consisted of 4 closely related clusters which included strains from California (including the type strain DN127-Cl9-2/p7) and Colorado that were isolated from Ixodes pacificus, I. spinipalpis, or infected reservoir hosts. Several strains isolated from I. scapularis clustered distantly from B. bissettii. Genetic distance analyses confirmed that these strains are more distant to B. bissettii than they are to B. carolinensis, a recently described Borrelia species, which suggests that they constitute a new Borrelia genospecies. We propose that it be named Borrelia kurtenbachii sp. nov. in honour of the late Klaus Kurtenbach. The data suggest that ecological differences between B. bissettii and the new Borrelia genospecies reflect different transmission cycles. In view of these findings, the distinct vertebrate host-tick vector associations and the distributions of B. bissettii and B. kurtenbachii require further investigation.

Original publication

DOI

10.1016/j.ttbdis.2010.09.002

Type

Journal article

Journal

Ticks and tick-borne diseases

Publication Date

12/2010

Volume

1

Pages

151 - 158

Addresses

University of Bath, Department of Biology and Biochemistry, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK. gm250@bath.ac.uk

Keywords

Animals, Ixodes, Borrelia, Bacterial Typing Techniques, Arachnid Vectors, Phylogeny, Species Specificity, Genes, Bacterial, North America, Genetic Speciation, Multilocus Sequence Typing