Contribution of the Infection-Associated Complement Regulator-Acquiring Surface Protein 4 (ErpC) to Complement Resistance of Borrelia burgdorferi

Figure 4

Binding of serum molecules by B. garinii transformants. B. garinii strains G1, G1/pKFSS1, and G1/pCRASP-4 and B. burgdorferi strain LW2 (used as control) were incubated in NHS plus EDTA to prevent complement activation and washed extensively, and bound proteins were eluted using 0.1 M glycine (pH 2.0). Both the last wash (w) and the eluate (e) fractions obtained from each strain were separated by SDS-PAGE and transferred to nitrocellulose. As an additional control purified CFH (1 𝜇g) was also applied. Membranes were probed with a polyclonal anti-FHR1 antiserum which recognizes CFH, CFHR1, CFHR2, and CFHR5. Mobilities of molecular mass standards are shown to the left of the panels.