Description:

Title: Peptidoglycan Release by Borrelia burgdorferi: Driver of Pathogenesis and Biomarker in Lyme Disease

Description: Unlike most Gram-negative bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi cannot recycle its peptidoglycan (PG) during growth, leading to the continuous release of unique and inflammatory cell-wall fragments. We exploited this fundamental property to both understand Lyme disease pathogenesis and attempt to develop a novel biomarker-based diagnostic. To this end, we generated monoclonal antibodies targeting B. burgdorferi PG and created a lytic transglycosylase mutant defective in PG release. Our combined approaches shed new light on host-pathogen interactions necessary to establish infection and may lead to a new diagnostic PG-based platform that accurately identifies an active infection, weeks before the current method used in the clinic.