Patricia A. Rosa

Bactofilins are essential spatial organizers of peptidoglycan insertion in the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi

This paper identifies BbbA and BbbB as essential bactofilins that organize peptidoglycan insertion sites in Borrelia burgdorferi, critical for cell growth and viability.

Borrelia burgdorferi loses essential genetic elements and cell proliferative potential during stationary phase in culture but not in the tick vector.

This paper shows that Borrelia burgdorferi loses genetic elements and proliferative ability in lab cultures during starvation but maintains these traits in tick vectors.