13 Lyme Genome Sequences Mapped

[tcmgpt13]

Since so many of us have been diagnosed with lyme, this news should give us some hope that at some point more will be known about how to treat lyme which may greatly ameliorate our Morgellons symptoms:

Genomes of 13 strains Lyme bugs mapped

01/09/11 12:2

Lyme can sure be a complicated puzzle. For example, knowing that Lyme is an inflammatory disease is one thing. But knowing what to do about that is quite another. My personal approach often feels scattershot: add turmeric to my supplemental arsenal. Take daily doses of quercetin. Drink water, exercise, avoid sugar. But doctors are far from being in agreement about therapies, and health websites and magazines are stuffed with pop advice. Some is helpful, some is contradictory or otherwise confusing.

But what can medical science tell us about dealing with chronic inflammation? There is actually good news in this area from a recent study.

Researchers have mapped the genomes of the 13 strains of bacterium that play the most prominent role in causing Lyme disease. This project may help us understand why a significant number of Lyme patients suffer with a chronic inflammatory response. The study may yield some answers to the problem of inflammation, an auto-immune response. More importantly, it may give us clues about what to do about it. Apparently the discovery is exciting Lyme researchers because they have found that proteins on the surface of the Borrelia bacterium can signal the immune system by attaching to receptors on the surface of white blood cells. The white blood cells are the ones responsible for fighting off infection.

That tiny attachment triggers production of an external protein that traps and stops other white blood cells from controlling the production of antibodies. When this occurs, antibodies are churned out in large numbers, often non-specifically, which results in inflammation throughout the body.

Researchers conclude that through therapeutic intervention they may be able to detach that external protein, and thereby suppress the inflammatory response.
Here is the abstract of the article, online in the Journal of Bacteriology:

Borrelia burgdorferi is a causative agent of Lyme disease in North America and Eurasia. The first complete genome sequence of B. burgdorferi strain 31, available for more than a decade, has assisted research on the pathogenesis of Lyme disease. Because a single genome sequence is not sufficient to understand the relationship between genotypic and geographic variation and disease phenotype, we determined the whole genome sequences of 13 additional B. burgdorferiisolates that span the range of natural variation. These sequences should allow improved understanding of pathogenesis and provide a foundation for novel detection, diagnosis, and prevention strategies.

Consider the spirochete: a minute, ancient creature. And yet it can cause so much distress. Something so tiny and simple can wreck such collosol havoc. Now perhaps the discovery of this microscopic external protein, only recently become visible to scientists, can help bring about healing.

Lyme Disease Blog: Expert Research & News

Whole Genome Sequences of Thirteen Isolates of Borrelia burgdorferi

Abstract
Borrelia burgdorferi is a causative agent of Lyme disease in North America and Eurasia. The first complete genome sequence of B. burgdorferi strain 31, available for more than a decade, has assisted research on the pathogenesis of Lyme disease. Because a single genome sequence is not sufficient to understand the relationship between genotypic and geographic variation and disease phenotype, we determined the whole genome sequences of 13 additional B. burgdorferi isolates that span the range of natural variation. These sequences should allow improved understanding of pathogenesis and provide a foundation for novel detection, diagnosis, and prevention strategies.

Steven E. Schutzer*, Claire M. Fraser-Liggett, Sherwood R. Casjens, Wei-Gang Qiu, John J. Dunn, Emmanuel F. Mongodin, and Benjamin J. Luft Department of Medicine, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103; Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland, School of Medicine, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Baltimore, MD 21201; Department of Pathology, Division of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Utah Medical School, Salt Lake City, UT 84112; Department of Biological Sciences, Hunter College of the City University of New York, New York, NY 10021; Biology Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11793; Department of Medicine, Health Science Center, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794

J. Bacteriol. doi:10.1128/JB.01158-10
Copyright (c) 2010, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

[lamb]

Turmeric and Quercitin are very important.

[tcmgpt13]

Hopefully you will elucidate about what exactly you are saying and how it relates to the 13 genomes of lyme strains which have been recently mapped?

Originally Posted by lamb

Turmeric and Quercitin are very important.

[lamb]

Read sentences two and three of the original article you posted, it mentions both supplements.
I am merely agreeing with those two sentences.
Problem?

[tcmgpt13]

I know that this person mentioned those two supplements (turmeric and quercitin) to help lyme inflammation in her article, but I just don't understand how you are connecting them to the abstract which was posted. Usually when saying something about a post the main discussion in that post is brought up in a reply, not some peripheral discussion of supplements. I am sure there are many supplements people use to help their lyme and morgellons symptoms besides these as well, such as cat's claw.

Still if you want to limit your remarks to the brief mention of two supplements which were merely an introduction by that writer to some other important information about lyme research, then perhaps you could tell us if you yourself have used these supplements and if they have helped any of your symptoms which I am sure many would find helpful. I believe you said you tested negative for lyme even using the IgeneX test so I know I would be interested to hear about your personal experience using these supplements to help your morgellons symptoms.

Anyway, since you brought up turmeric again, I thought if any are interested in reading more about this spice that this thread started by Carla about this subject might be of interest:

Tumeric -a miracle spice

Meanwhile I think that continuing research (by those qualified to conduct it) into the subject of both lyme and chronic fatigue will some day offer us the best hope of getting to the bottom of at least some of our myriad and peculiar Morgellons symptoms.

Originally Posted by lamb

Read sentences two and three of the original article you posted, it mentions both supplements.
I am merely agreeing with those two sentences.
Problem?