Researchers Uncover Key To Survival Of Bacterium That Causes Lyme Disease

A specific outer-surface protein found in the bacterium that causes tick-borne Lyme disease is essential to survival of the bacterium in its natural life cycle and colonization in the insect, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have found. A study published online today in The Journal of Experimental Medicine provides the first proof of a long-held theory that outer surface lipoprotein A (OspA) must be present for Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) - the bacterium that causes Lyme disease - to colonize in ticks.