Comparison of the sequence types of B. afzelii strains according to multi locus sequence typing (MLST), and ospA and ospC typing.

MLST typing, according to the system described by Margos et al.[54] comprising 592 defined profiles, assigned K78 to sequence type ST335 which is identical to the Italian strains 0600839I and 05001891I in the Borrelia MLST database [55]. No match for ACA-1 and Tom3107 was found in the MLST data base with their respective sequence profiles. Column ospA lists the ospA sequence type from the MLSA database [56] and in parentheses the OspA serotypes. The nearest hit for Tom3107 is ospA sequence type-3 with 1 bp mismatch: ospC classification follows the scheme of Seinost et al. [57] and Lagal et al. [58]. Tom3107 do not fall into any invasive group. For strain HLJ01 only the chromosome sequence is available.Comparison of the sequence types of B. afzelii strains according to multi locus sequence typing (MLST), and ospA and ospC typing.