Candidatus Cryptoplasma Associated with Green Lizards and Ixodes ricinus Ticks, Slovakia, 2004-2011.

Božena Kočíková,Peter Pristaš,Bronislava Víchová,Lenka Maliničová,Viktória Majláthová,Vincent A Connors,Igor Majláth

doi:10.3201/eid2412.161958

Abstract

During 2004–2011, we collected green lizards and Ixodes ricinus ticks in Slovak Karst National Park in Slovakia; 90% (36/40) of lizards and 37% of ticks removed from lizards were infected with family Anaplasmataceae bacteria. Only Candidatus Cryptoplasma sp. REP (reptile) was identified in these samples. Green lizards transmit this bacterium.

Highlights

The family Anaplasmataceae (Rickettsiales; Alphaproteobacteria) comprises bacteria that are able to invade and infect their vertebrate host’s blood cells, bone marrow–derived phagocytic cells, and endothelial cells; these bacteria can infect cells of insects, helminths, and arthropod reproductive tissues (1–3)
Ekner et al suggested that sand lizards could potentially serve as a reservoir host for species of the Anaplasmataceae family when she discovered that ticks collected from these lizards in Poland were infected with Anaplasma-like pathogens (8)
A. phagocytophilum might be transmitted by reptiles to a limited extent (5), the Anaplasma-like species detected in reptiles could be a novel species, as suggested by Rejmanek et al (6)

Summary

Organism name

Denatured and electrophoresed PCR products from samples demonstrated several SSCP profiles, of which 1 was clearly distinguishable from the profiles of the Anaplasmataceae species used as controls (Figure 1). We detected this unique profile in all lizard blood samples, all ticks feeding on lizards, and some questing ticks. Sequencing of a longer (1,410-bp) fragment of the 16S rRNA gene revealed 99.1% similarity with the Candidatus C. californiense isolate from I. pacificus ticks in California (Figure 2). REP (reptile) clustered in a separate branch with Candidatus C. californiense, indicating the isolate represents a lineage distinct from other known Anaplasmataceae species (e.g., A. phagocytophilum, A. marginale, A. platys, Ehrlichia muris, E. chaffeensis, and E. ewingii)

Conclusions

Cryptoplasma phagocytophilum pipientis Neoehrlichia mikurensis

Findings

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