CHARACTERIZATION OF BORRELIA-LUSITANIAE SP. NOV. BY 16S RIBOSOMAL DNA-SEQUENCE ANALYSIS

We determined the complete sequence of the rrs gene from five strains of genomic species PotiB2, Both distance and parsimony methods were us ed to infer the evolutionary relationships of the rrs gene sequence of this genomic species in comparison,vith the rrs gene sequence of Borr elia valaisiana and the rrs gene sequences of Borrelia burgdorferi sen su late species obtained from sequence databases, The phylogenetic ana lysis revealed that the genomic species PotiB2 strains clustered in a separate lineage, which was consistent with data from previous DNA-DNA hybridization experiments (D, Postic, M, V, Assous, P, A, D, Grimont, and G, Baranton, Int, J, Syst, Bacteriol, 44:743-752, 1994), A PCR-re striction fragment length polymorphism analysis was used to identify g enomic species PotiB2 and to differentiate it from B. burgdorferi sens u late species, Moreover, signature nucleotide positions were identifi ed for each B, burgdorferi sensu late species, In accordance with DNA relatedness values, our findings suggest that genomic species PotiB2 c an be more clearly defined and identified, and we propose that it shou ld be referred to as a new species, Borrelia lusitaniae, The type stra in is PotiB2.