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Birds are known to be important hosts for ticks and in the maintenance of borreliae. Recent field surveys and laboratory transmission studies indicated that certain avian species act as reservoir hosts for different <jats:italic>Borrelia<\/jats:italic> species. Nevertheless, our current understanding of the molecular mechanisms determining host tropism of <jats:italic>Borrelia<\/jats:italic> is still in its fledgling stage. Concerning the role of complement in avian-host tropism, only a few bird species and <jats:italic>Borrelia<\/jats:italic> species have been analysed so far. Here, we performed in vitro serum bactericidal assays with serum samples collected from four bird species including the European robin <jats:italic>Erithacus rubecula<\/jats:italic>, the great tit <jats:italic>Parus major<\/jats:italic>, the Eurasian blackbird <jats:italic>Turdus merula<\/jats:italic>, and the racing pigeon <jats:italic>Columba livia<\/jats:italic>, as well as four <jats:italic>Borrelia<\/jats:italic> species (<jats:italic>B. afzelii<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>B. garinii<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>B. valaisiana<\/jats:italic>, and <jats:italic>B. burgdorferi<\/jats:italic> sensu stricto). From July to September 2019, juvenile wild birds were caught using mist nets in Portugal. Racing pigeons were sampled in a loft in October 2019. Independent of the bird species analysed, all <jats:italic>Borrelia<\/jats:italic> species displayed an intermediate serum-resistant or serum-resistant phenotype except for <jats:italic>B. afzelii<\/jats:italic> challenged with serum from blackbirds. This genospecies was efficiently killed by avian complement, suggesting that blackbirds served as dead-end hosts for <jats:italic>B. afzelii<\/jats:italic>. In summary, these findings suggest that complement contributes in the avian\u2013spirochete\u2013tick infection cycle and in <jats:italic>Borrelia<\/jats:italic>-host tropism.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1186\/s13071-021-04959-0","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,6]],"date-time":"2021-09-06T10:04:02Z","timestamp":1630922642000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Bactericidal activity of avian complement: a contribution to understand avian-host tropism of Lyme borreliae"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Valerie","family":"S\u00fcrth","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Isabel","family":"Lopes de Carvalho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Maria Sofia","family":"N\u00fancio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Ana Cl\u00e1udia","family":"Norte","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Peter","family":"Kraiczy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"4959_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"87","DOI":"10.1038\/nrmicro2714","volume":"10","author":"JD Radolf","year":"2012","unstructured":"Radolf JD, Caimano MJ, Stevenson B, Hu LT. 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Samples were collected under licence from competent authorities (ICNF, no. 4\/2019).","order":2,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Ethics approval and consent to participate"}},{"value":"Not applicable.","order":3,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Consent for publication"}},{"value":"The authors declare no competing interests.","order":4,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Competing interests"}}],"article-number":"451"}}