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. 2022 Oct 25;11(11):1234.
doi: 10.3390/pathogens11111234.

A Novel High Discriminatory Protocol for the Detection of Borrelia afzelii, Borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Stricto and Borrelia garinii in Ticks

Giulia Chiappa  1 , Matteo Perini  2 , Alessandra Cafiso  1 , Riccardo Nodari  2 , Peter Wilhelmsson  3   4 , Per-Eric Lindgren  3   4 , Anna Omazic  5 , Karin Ullman  6 , Sara Moutailler  7 , Petter Kjellander  8 , Chiara Bazzocchi  1 , Giulio Grandi  6   9
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A Novel High Discriminatory Protocol for the Detection of Borrelia afzelii, Borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Stricto and Borrelia garinii in Ticks

Giulia Chiappa et al. Pathogens. .

Abstract

Bacteria of the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex are the causative agents of Lyme borreliosis (LB). Even if the conventional diagnosis of LB does not rely on the species itself, an accurate species identification within the complex will provide a deepened epidemiological scenario, a better diagnosis leading to a more targeted therapeutic approach, as well as promote the general public's awareness. A comparative genomics approach based on the 210 Borrelia spp. genomes available in 2019 were used to set up three species-specific PCR protocols, able to detect and provide species typing of Borrelia afzelii, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto (s.s.) and Borrelia garinii, the three most common and important human pathogenic Lyme Borrelia species in Europe. The species-specificity of these protocols was confirmed on previously identified B. afzelii, B. burgdorferi s.s. and B. garinii specimens detected in Ixodes ricinus samples. In addition, the protocols were validated on 120 DNA samples from ticks collected in Sweden, showing 88% accuracy, 100% precision, 72% sensitivity and 100% specificity. The proposed approach represents an innovative tool in epidemiological studies focused on B. burgdorferi s.l. occurrence in ticks, and future studies could suggest its helpfulness in routine diagnostic tests for health care.

Keywords: Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato; Ixodes; molecular typing; real time-PCR.

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Conflict of interest statement

P.L. has been an external scientific expert to Valneva Austria GmbH, Vienna, Austria and Pfizer Inc., US. The other authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) plot of the Borrelia genomes performed on the gene presence/absence analysis. Each dot represents a genome. The colors were manually added to group the genomes based on the average nucleotide identity (ANI) analyses: the genomes with an ANI > 95% were clustered and highlighted by the same color. Moreover, two genomes were explicitly indicated in the plot because their annotation on the PATRIC database (in black) was incoherent with the ANI clusters computed in this work (indicated by the color of the dot).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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