NUCLEOTIDE-SEQUENCE AND ANALYSIS OF THE GENE IN BORRELIA-BURGDORFERI ENCODING THE IMMUNOGENIC P39 ANTIGEN

The P39 antigen is a specific, highly conserved, and immunogenic prote in of Lyme disease spirochetes, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato. The n ucleotide sequence of the gene encoding this protein was determined an d found to be the first of two tandemly arranged open reading frames l ocated on the spirochete's chromosome. These two open reading frames w ere designated bmpA for the gene encoding P39 and bmpB for the gene en coding the putative protein ORF2 encoded by the second open reading fr ame. The nucleic acid sequence identity for the two open reading frame s was 62% while their deduced amino acid sequences were 52% identical. Comparison to sequence data bases demonstrated that the deduced amino acid sequences of both P39 and ORF2 were homologous to TmpC, a putati ve outer or cytoplasmic membrane lipoprotein of the syphilis spirochet e, Treponema pallidum.