Acetylation in Borrelia burgdorferi

Borelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of the Lyme disease, cycles between a vector (tick) and the mammalian host. Our principal goal is to study how B. burgdorferi adapts its metabolism to colonize and survive in the tick. We established the first growth-phase related acetylome and demonstrated the role of acetylation on central metabolism regulation. We also demonstrated that acetyl phosphate is the primary acetyl donor in B. burgdorferi.