Top Highlights

• Borrelia burgdorferi, among others, have been shown to scavenge and manipulate host lipids for structural support, metabolism, replication, immune evasion, and disease severity.
• For example, the tick genus Ixodes transmits bacterial, viral, and parasitic agents throughout the northern hemisphere (Eisen and Eisen, 2018; Figure 1A).
• vector-borne microbes all share the requirement for blood nutrition during acquisition and transmission
• found abundantly in the blood are lipids, which include fatty acids and cholesterols
• microbes cannot synthesize cholesterol, and many of these pathogens are limited in their ability to synthesize certain lipids or preferentially acquire lipids from the host

Domain