Carbohydrate utilization by the Lyme borreliosis spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi

Growth kinetic analyses of Borrelia burgdoferi indicated that this bacterium can utilize a limited number of carbon sources for energy: the monosaccharides glucose, mannose, and N-acetylglucosamine, the disaccharides maltose and chitobiose, and glycerol. All of these carbohydrates are likely to be available to B. burgdoferi during infection of either vertebrate and arthropod hosts, enabling development of a model describing energy sources potentially used by the Lyme borreliosis spirochete during its natural infectious cycle. (C) 2004 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.