Comparative evaluation of viability assays and functional analysis of bbi29 in Borrelia burgdorferi.

Flow cytometry outperforms the SYBR Green I/PI assay and manual microscopy in accurately measuring Borrelia burgdorferi viability, with significant speed and labor advantages.

• Why it matters: Accurate assessment of B. burgdorferi viability is crucial for studying its survival under stress and understanding its pathogenic mechanisms, but existing methods have limitations in reliability and efficiency.
• What they did: Researchers compared manual microscopic counting, flow cytometry, and the SYBR Green I/PI fluorescence assay for viability measurement, and used flow cytometry to investigate the role of the gene bbi29 in stress response and infection.
• The result: Flow cytometry was found to be more reliable, accurate, faster, and less labor-intensive than other methods, and the study provided insights into the potential role of bbi29 in B. burgdorferi pathogenesis.