US Public Health Service, National Institutes of DALLAS -- April 25, 2005 -- When the tick-borne bacterium that causes Lyme disease lacks a specific protein that responds to an incoming meal of blood, it is unable to be transmitted from the tick to a new animal host, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found. The findings suggest that the protein, called BptA, is essential for the bacterium Borrelia burgdorfei (Bb) to survive in the gut of its tick host and may offer a potential new target for agents aimed at eradicating Lyme disease.Results of the multisite study are currently online and will appear in an upcoming issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
