Heterologous Surface Display Reveals Conserved Complement Inhibition and Functional Diversification of Borrelia burgdorferi Elp Proteins.

Lyme disease is a tick-borne spirochetosis with diverse clinical manifestations. Genotypic and phenotypic variation among Borrelia burgdorferi strains correlates with variable manifestations of Lyme disease in humans; this diversity is attributed in part to variation in surface-exposed lipoproteins, which are targets of the human antibody response and contribute to tissue adhesion, immune evasion, and other host interactions. Many B.