The Borrelia hermsii spirochete causes a relapsing fever, characterized by multiple periods of high fever followed by asymptomatic intervals. The major outer membrane protein of the bacterium is known as VMP, for variable membrane protein, as >50 variants of this protein are found among B. hermsii isolates. Interestingly, each bacterium contains genes encoding all of these variants, and during bacterial replication, ~1 in 103–104 bacteria undergo VMP switching per generation, thereby changing the VMP protein variant expressed on their surface. How does the VMP system explaining the relapsing/remitting fever caused by this pathogen?

The Borrelia hermsii spirochete causes a relapsing fever, characterized by multiple periods of high fever followed by asymptomatic intervals. The major outer membrane protein of the bacterium is known as VMP, for variable membrane protein, as >50 variants of this protein are found among B. hermsii isolates. Interestingly, each bacterium contains genes encoding all of these variants, and during bacterial replication, ~1 in 10³–10⁴ bacteria undergo VMP switching per generation, thereby changing the VMP protein variant expressed on their surface. How does the VMP system explaining the relapsing/remitting fever caused by this pathogen?