An adaptive strategy of the agent of Lyme disease

What is it about?

Small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) are molecules that can affect how cells produce products in a dynamic manner. The sRNAs target existing molecules known as "transcripts" to change how they are "read". Within the agent of Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, we found an sRNA that altered its ability to infect.

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Photo by Marino Linic on Unsplash

Photo by Marino Linic on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The ability of living systems to quickly adapt to their environment is important for survival. This is particularly important for infectious agents that need to react quickly to the hosts that they infect and the immune response that is trying to eliminate them. Here, we show that the Lyme disease bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi, encodes a small, non-coding RNA (sRNA) that is needed for optimal infection. The sRNA can bind to existing "transcripts" and change their ability to be read. We believe this event can changes the profile of the Lyme disease pathogen and provides it with a selective advantage.