Genetic diversity of Haemaphysalis longicornis from China and molecular detection of Rickettsia

Abstract

The tick Haemaphysalis longicornis (Neumann) (Acari, Ixodidae) is distributed throughout China and is the most notorious blood feeding ectoparasite of livestock. Haemaphysalis longicornis can transmit a large number of pathogens that cause human infectious diseases, such as Rickettsia spp. Here, we characterized the genetic structure of H. longicornis and tested for the presence of Rickettsia spp. from five regions in China. Analysis of the two mitochondrial marker sequences (16S rRNA and COI) and the nuclear sequence (ITS2) showed that the overall level of nucleotide diversity was low and the variability did not differ among the five regions. From the five locations, the infection rates of Rickettsia species ranged from 0 to 65%. The nucleotide diversities of the high-infected group were lower than those of the low- and uninfected group. And in neutrality tests for the high-infected group based on COI sequences, the Tajima's D and Fu's FS were coincidentally < 0 and significant, whereas they were closer to zero and non-significant in low- and uninfected groups.