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Borrelia burgdorferi proves this quote true; it may be a
microscopic organism, but it definitely puts up a fight.
B. burgdorferi is a spiral shaped gram-negative
bacteria that possesses an uniqueness in its ability to penetrate the
tissue of other organisms. Its motile success is due to
its extraordinary flagella. Its ability to survive in a variety of
environments is correlated with its linear, rather than circular,
chromosomes. The bacterium is generally
20-30 µm in length and 0.2-0.5 µm in width. B. burgdorferi
is transmitted into humans through ticks and is responsible for
causing Lyme disease. This bacteria depicts advanced
modifications that contribute to enhancing its fitness. The
magnitude of success that this microscopic organism has attained is
truly remarkable.
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This dark field microscopic image of
Borrelia burgdorferi exhibits the extreme spiral shape of the
organism.
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Why Borrelia burgdorferi??
When asked to pick any random
organism in the world, some may wonder why I choose
Borrelia burgdorferi.
While my classmates were selecting various organism from what Thomas
Volk would call the "charismatic megafauna," I decided to challenge
myself by somewhat randomly choosing an infectious bacteria.
No, I never had Lyme disease myself so I can't say that's why I pick
this organism. I simply wanted to select an organism
that had obvious relevance to the human population and found myself
stumbling upon Borrelia burgdorferi. The bacterium
proved to exceed my expectations in its uniqueness and ability to
adapt. Overall, I choose Borrelia burgdorferi to gain a
better understanding about something that I previously had no
knowledge of.
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Questions or comments contact Kaitlyn Joyce at
joyce.kait@students.uwlax.edu
Last Updated April 27,2007
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