Abstract
Ixodes ricinus is the most common hard tick species in Europe and an important vector of pathogens of human and animal health concerns. The rise of high-throughput sequencing has facilitated the identification of many tick-borne pathogens and, more globally, of various microbiota members depending on the scale of concern. In this study, we aimed to assess the bacterial diversity of individual I. ricinus questing nymphs collected in France using high-throughput 16S gene metabarcoding. From 180 dragging-collected nymphs, we identified more than 700 bacterial genera, of which about 20 are abundantly represented (>1% of total reads). Together with 136 other genera assigned, they constitute a core internal microbiota in this study. We also identified 20 individuals carrying Borreliella. The most abundant species is B. afzelii, known to be one of the bacteria responsible for Lyme disease in Europe. Co-detection of up to four Borreliella genospecies within the same individual has also been retrieved. The detection and co-detection rate of Borreliella in I. ricinus nymphs is high and raises the question of interactions between these bacteria and the communities constituting the internal microbiota.
Highlights
Ticks are blood-sucking arthropods known worldwide to be vectors of many pathogens for humans, as well as for domestic and wild animals [1]
I. ricinus ticks were considered in this study
A focus was made on I. ricinus, which is the primary vector of Borreliella, the bacteria responsible for Lyme disease (LD) [40,43]
Summary
Ticks are blood-sucking arthropods known worldwide to be vectors of many pathogens for humans, as well as for domestic and wild animals [1]. Ticks ingestion of blood is completed by biting at each developmental stage to induce the moult [2]. During these meals, ticks can take up pathogens by feeding on an infected host or by co-feeding [3,4]. An infected tick can transmit pathogens with its saliva to a new host. Many studies have focused on its description in several tick species throughout the world, at different stages of the life cycle, during questing or during interactions with various hosts [7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14]. A current lack of harmonization at the level of collection and/or analysis conditions still limits our understanding of both the composition of these communities and the relationships between these microorganisms [15]
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