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A Chromosomally Encoded Virulence Factor Protects the Lyme Disease Pathogen against Host-Adaptive Immunity

Figure 1

B. burgdorferi lmp1 is dramatically upregulated during early phases of spirochete infection of the murine heart.

Total RNA was isolated from murine heart, skin, bladder, and joints of B. burgdorferi–infected mice (5 mice/group) at days 7, 10, 15, and 20, following spirochete challenge, as well as from engorged nymphs that fed on 2-week–infected mice, which were then converted to cDNA for measuring lmp1 transcripts using quantitative PCR. The relative expression levels of lmp1 are presented as copies of lmp1 transcript per 1,000 copies of flaB transcripts. Bars represent the mean±SEM from quantitative PCR analyses of three independent infection experiments. The transcript levels of lmp1 in the heart on days 7 and 10 were significantly higher than all time points for the skin, joint, bladder, and tick (*P<0.01–0.001).

Figure 1

doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1000326.g001