User:Mic Goodwill/Borrelia burgdorferi

Dr. Funk, I have added 2 sentences to the bacteriophage section. I have added a new section over transformation of Borrelia burgdorferi, I have added the test table and summary below with sources. 4/21/2022

I will be editing the lead in a way that it becomes more understandable to laymen and relates better to the rest of the article. I'm trying to find a way to incorporate the more complex information into other sections without actually getting rid of it entirely. -Mic Goodwill

Lead
For this article, I would like to add more into the "Bacteriophage" section. This article has minimal information, only stating the widely identified and used bacteriophage for experimentation. I think it would be interesting to add a section about what kinds of research scientists are doing with bacteriophages. Lyme disease is caused by this bacterium, so perhaps a new, more effective medication could be established from bacteriophages. This would especially be important with antibiotic resistant strains of borrelia infections. I will need to find new sources if I want to add to the bacteriophage section, since my current sources deal with morphology and lyme disease.

Borrelia burgdorferi is a Gram-negative bacteria that is part of the Borrelia genus. Borrelia bacteria are Spirochaete s, which are all gram-negative and have helical shaped cells. Borrelia Burgdorferi does not refer to a single species of bacteria, but rather to a Species complex composed of 20 genospecies. Borrelia burgdorferi is most studied because it is one of the Borrelia species that causes Lyme disease, a vector borne disease spread by ticks. Although usual treatment of Borrelia infection is through the use of antibiotics, current research seeks to use bacteriophage s for more effective treatment.

Article body
Transformation:

Bacterial Transformation (genetics) - Wikipedia has been utilized by researchers in order to isolate specific pathogenic genes among the ''Borrelia burgdorferi. Borrelia burgdorferi'' strains appear to be highly insufficient for use in bacterial transformation due to the large amount of DNA needed for transformation, the time it takes to produce reliable transformants, and the influence of Restriction modification system - Wikipedia (two sources). In fact, infectivity of Borrelia burgdorferi often requires the gene pncA, which is present on a bacterial plasmid that contains the gene bbe02 that is highly selected against during transformation. Since these genes are often paired together, infectivity is often selected against in transformation, counteracting research to pinpoint particular genes that function in pathogenicity of Borrelia burgdorferi (source). Despite this, some headway has been made in unraveling the mysteries of Borrelia burgdorferi, such as the discovery of gene cyaB as essential for mammalian infection (source).

Bacteriophage

φBB-1 was the first bacteriophage that provided evidence of transduction for lateral gene transfer in Borrelia species that cause Lyme Disease. Current research aims to use bacteriophages as way of identifying virulence factors in spirochaetes that lead to Lyme Disease.

Draft Information


https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9166953/ : Contains details depicting the microbiology and other describing factors of Borrelia burgdorferi.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/borrelia-burgdorferi: Describes the sequences and systems within Borrelia burgdorferi and their structures.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC154584/: Contains information that discusses the strains of Borrelia burgdorferi within experiments and analysis.

https://igenex.com/tick-talk/an-overview-of-the-types-of-borrelia-that-cause-lyme-disease/: This is an overview of the types of Borrelia that may be able to cause Lyme disease.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3327992/: Laboratory confirmations of Lyme disease (if more discussion of Lyme disease is needed).

Borrelia Burgdorferi Article Editing Ideas:

-Need to Add more describing characteristics (i.e. gram negative, shape, endospores, etc)

-Add more history of discovery and Willy Burgdorfer with the help of Dr. Carl Barbour (was able to have validation of the causative agent of Lyme disease by culturing this bacteria nd characterizing it; utilized indirect immunofluorescence as well as western blotting to further validate the presence of spirochetes in the infected individuals)

-Correct grammar/scientific term errors

Borrelia Burgdorferi Article Editing:

Borrelia burgdorferi is a Gram-negative kind of bacteria. It has been proven to be what is transmitted between species that results in Lyme disease. The natural cycle of infection that ticks go through it what keeps it around. The structure and all adaptations of B. burgdorferi is what emits such a productive and invasive pathogen. It has genes for its metabolism that is similar to other common parasites, but is still very different from other well-known bacterial groups. The higher order of taxa is as follows: Bacteria; Spirochaetes (Phylum); Spriochaetes (Class); and Spirochaetales.

Lead
Borrelia burgdorferi is known as a lyme disease spirochete. B. burgdorferi is known as a helical shaped spirochete bacterium that is a Gram-negative kind of bacteria. It is characterized as having a flexible cell wall and an inner and outer membrane. Its cells are described as being long and cylindrical and normally are measured to be roughly 1 microgram wide. It has been proven to be what is transmitted between species that results in Lyme disease.

Article Body

Borrelia burgdorferi is a species complex of bacteria that is made of 20 genospecies. The structure and all adaptations of B. burgdorferi is what emits such a productive and invasive pathogen. It has genes for its metabolism that is similar to other common parasites, but is still very different from other well-known bacterial groups. some of these similarities of those bacterias are that they depend on their host for the energy precursors and they include limited metabolic capabilities. B. burgdorferi are able to obtain compounds from the surrounding environment by transport systems. B. burgdorferi is able to encode and transport proteins within their phospotransferase system such as ABC transporters, enzymes, and proteins.

B. burgdorferi is the causative agent of Lyme disease and that is why it is studied so intently. It is most commonly transmitted from ticks to humans. Humans act as the tick's host for this bacteria. The natural cycle of infection by ticks is what enables the continuation of the bacteria, B. burgdorferi. Ticks are able to transmit this bacteria during certain stages of their life cycle. Those life cycle stages are larval, nymphal, and adult stages.

The higher order of taxa is as follows: Bacteria; Spirochaetes (Phylum); Spriochaetes (Class); and Spirochaetales.

Characteristics of Borrelia Burgdorferi- Summary Table
Morphological, physiological, and biochemical characteristics of Borrelia Burgdorferi are shown in the Table below. The positive symbol (+) represents that the test resulted in a positive test. The negative symbol (-) represents that the test resulted in a negative test. These tests help researchers to be able to characterize and get a better understanding of this bacteria. It was found that the colony characteristics of this bacteria fall into very common groups with their results results being similar (i.e. growth temperature, pH range for growth, color, shape, etc.). Whenever testing to see if a individual has this bacteria containing disease (Lyme disease), it is done in a two-step testing process that requires a blood sample.


 * 1) Kurtti, Timothy. Colony Formation and Morphology in Borrelia Burgdorfeeri. Journal of Clinical Microbiology. https://journals.asm.org/doi/epdf/10.1128/jcm.25.11.2054-2058.1987
 * 2) Diagnosis and Testing. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 21 May 2021.https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/diagnosistesting/index.html

Extra Credit from Test 3 Q. #46 Transformation/Plasmid (4/21)
Borrelia burgdorferi has been looked at by researchers to examine its bacterial transformation and to be able to genetically manipulate it. Researchers are able to look at specific pathogenic genes of Borrelia burgdorferi and are able to isolate them. Researchers have found, when looking at Borrelia burgdorferi strains, that they are insufficient in bacterial transformation. This was found to be because of the amount of time it takes to produce good transformants and the immense amount of DNA that transformation needs to take place. Researchers were able to transform Borrelia burgdorferi and create stains that were able to retain a plasmid profile of the original stain and doing this enabled the analysis of transformants (i.e. in vitro and in vivo phenotypes). By doing this, researchers believe it will make transformation more efficient and enable better research for looking at Borrelia burgdorferi's colonization, survival, and transmission during phases of infections.