In vivo expression technology (IVET) has been applied to a variety of organisms to identify active promoters in specific environments or growth conditions of interest. Here, we describe modifications to employ this genome-wide screening method for Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme disease spirochete, during an active murine infection. Utilization of this technique provides valuable insights into the B. burgdorferi transcriptome during infection, despite the low bacterial numbers in the mammalian host environment.
Keywords: Borrelia burgdorferi; Gene expression; Genomic library; In vivo expression technology; Lyme disease; Mammalian infection; Pathogenicity; Promoter trap; Transcriptome.