An abundant tick sugar helps shape the unusual peptidoglycan cell-wall of Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme disease spirochete

Current project focuses on the study of peptidoglycan cell wall of bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, and the unusual features of its chemical composition. We present atomic, molecular, chemical, and cellular evidence that B. burgdorferi produces PG glycan strands that contain GlcNAc-GlcNAc disaccharides, which has never been observed in other bacterial species. We confirm that mutant bacteria, unable to import the GlcNAc-GlcNAc sugar chitobiose, have morphological, motility, and cell envelope defects. The results of the study provide insights into the previously unknown structural features of B. burgdorferi and may be clinically relevant to pathogenesis of Lyme disease.