Reference no: EM132761864

BACKGROUND INFORMATION Ixodes scapularisI. scapularisBorrelia burgdorferi

Climate change means the range for the, also known as deer ticks or black legged ticks is expanding. The reason why this is important is because  carries the etiologic agent of Lyme disease,.

Lyme disease was first identified as a juvenile arthritis in Lyme, CT. At first, it was seen as an autoimmune disorder, as some arthritis cases are, but later the B. burgdorferi the spirochete that caused of the disease was isolated.

A vaccine was developed in 1998, but pulled from the market after 3 years.

You now work for Dr. Gary Deeney, renowned expert on B. burgdorferi and interested in patenting a new vaccine. You are in the early stages of preparing a grant and a presentation to Baroness Research Ltd, with the goal of developing a new Lyme disease vaccines in humans, and in cattle.

B. burgdorferi is a Gram negative Spirochete, that has a very reduced genome that suits it's parasitic lifestyle. It cannot synthesize any of the amino acids, and lack other genes considered to be part of primary metabolism. It doesn't have TCA or an electron transport chain, it does have a phosphotransferase system (group translocation) to import glucose. It doesn't have many traditional virulence factors, noted virulence factors include the outer membrane surface proteins, two of noted importance include OspA and OspC. Designated as lipoproteins, these ARE NOT the same thing as animal lipoproteins. These proteins are imbedded in the outer membrane of the organism, though often associated with one face (inside or outside) of the outer membrane. Other virulence factors, such as CspA, CspZ and OspC inhibit complementation.

QUESTION

NOTE: The diagram and explanations should focus on how the adaptive immune system will react to a nucleic acid vaccine and not the expression and binding step of the vaccine , diagram should be based on what happens after the expression and binding steps assuming you already have a molecule that can be absorbed and expressed.

Dr. Deeney is convinced that a second project should be creation of a nucleic acid vaccine. The gene Dr. Deeney wants expressed in eukaryotic cells is expressed is cspZ. Dr. Deeney letting you chose either DNA or RNA as your choice of nucleotide. Dr. Deeny is going to collaborate with someone to bring the nucleic acid into the eukaryotic cells but needs you to draw a multistep diagram that begins with

• Either the DNA or RNA (your choice) entering the Eukaryotic cells
• Expression of cspZ
• Clearly put on your diagram Where the products of the expression of cspZ are seen on the eukaryotic cells expressing them
• How those products could elicit T-cell and B-cell responses, and what those B and T cell responses are?

For this diagram: Label all the important eukaryotic surface proteins that would bind antigens or epitopes in this case. You can include a paragraph length explanation of what your diagram shows. Include an explanation as to why this will confer long term immunity to people receiving this vaccine.