FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Research funded by Bay Area Lyme Foundation provides most comprehensive and geographically widespread whole genome sequencing of Lyme bacteria
Results may help inform future research and how physicians treat Lyme disease
PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif., August 31, 2023—Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the US, today announced the results of the most comprehensive whole genome sequencing study of Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease—a condition affecting nearly 500,000 new patients annually. Published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS Pathogens, the study is the first to define the connection between genomic markers and symptom severity, confirming that RST1 OspC type A strains, which are the most common type of Borrelia bacterial strains found in the Northeast, are associated with more disseminated infection and thus more severe Lyme disease. These new discoveries will help inform physicians that different strains of the Lyme disease bacteria in the US may cause more severe Lyme disease symptoms, which may include joint swelling, debilitating fatigue, memory loss, headaches and serious inflammation of the heart and brain.
“Dissemination from the site of inoculation to organs such as the heart, brain and joints is a key step in the development of severe Lyme disease. Up until now, the bacterial genes and plasmids associated with dissemination in humans had not yet been identified,” said first author Jacob Lemieux, MD, DPhil, Bay Area Lyme Foundation Emerging Leader Award winner, an infectious disease staff physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and an Associate Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. “This work provides important clues into the bacterial genetic basis of dissemination and therefore suggests candidates for further study, including proteins to target for therapeutics and vaccines aimed at preventing dissemination.”
The new study also identifies the genetic changes that distinguish more virulent strains, including an enlarged genome size, a unique set of plasmids, and an expanded set of surface-exposed lipid-modified proteins called lipoproteins.
Pardis Sabeti, MD, DPhil, professor at Harvard University, Institute member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator and co-lead author added, “This research will lay the foundation for developing sensitive diagnostics for Lyme disease and help physicians refine treatment plans, arming them with a better understanding of Lyme disease bacterial strains and their clinical manifestations.”