Bgp, a secreted glycosaminoglycan-binding protein of Borrelia burgdorferi strain N40, displays nucleosidase activity and is not essential for infection of immunodeficient mice.

Bgp, one of the surface-localized glycosaminoglycan-binding proteins of the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, exhibited nucleosidase activity. Infection of SCID mice with B. burgdorferi strain N40 mutants harboring a targeted insertion in bgp and apparently retaining all endogenous plasmids revealed that Bgp is not essential for colonization of immunocompromised mice.