Authors’ Contributions
GM, VF, NSB designed the study concept. RER, NSB, MTT, FHM, HK, KS, and
MN collected tick samples and RER, NSB, MTT, FHM, KS, and HK performedBorrelia isolations. RER and HK were responsible for
morphological identification of all tick specimens. HK, SK, GM, and VF
provided additional Borrelia isolates and sequence data. RER
sequenced all novel Borrelia and assembled all sequence data. RER
ran all analysis with the guidance of NSB and RJP. RER wrote the
manuscript with NSB, RJP, HK, and GM. The final manuscript was read and
approved by all co-authors.