Lyme Disease in Canada

We successfully reconstructed the genome, comprising chromosomes and plasmids of the six Canadian strains. These genomes showed an overall similar structure compared to other B. burgdorferi strains. Phylogenetic inferences highlighted topological differences in the placement of B. burgdorferi strains between the chromosome and the cp26 and lp54 plasmids. Synteny analyses revealed important replicon sequence conservation across strains while highlighting a high proportion of shared gene sequences among the replicons of the same strain, especially for cp32 plasmids. We describe the first complete genomes of Canadian B. burgdorferi strains and present a strategy for the assembly, annotation, comparative analysis of plasmids and their evolution in the same bacterial genus. While the genome content and structure of Canadian strains are similar to other B. burgdorferi strains, the information in the plasmids and genes they harbour will be useful to elucidate the origins and evolution of LB in Canada.