Abstract
BackgroundThe important roles of microbial flora in tick biology and ecology have received much attention. Dermacentor marginatus and Dermacentor reticulatus are known vectors of various pathogens across Europe, including Slovakia. However, their bacterial microbiomes are poorly explored.MethodsIn this study, bacterial microbiomes of field-collected D. marginatus and D. reticulatus from Slovakia were characterized using 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing.ResultsDifferent analyses demonstrated that the D. marginatus and D. reticulatus microbiomes differ in their diversity and taxonomic structures. Furthermore, species- and sex-specific bacteria were detected in the two species. A possible bacterial pathogen “Candidatus Rhabdochlamydia sp.” was detected from D. marginatus males. Among the observed bacteria, Rickettsia showed high abundance in the two species. Several maternally inherited bacteria such as Coxiella, Arsenophonus, Spiroplasma, Francisella and Rickettsiella, were abundant, and their relative abundance varied depending on tick species and sex, suggesting their biological roles in the two species.ConclusionsThe bacterial microbiomes of field-collected D. marginatus and D. reticulatus were shaped by tick phylogeny and sex. Maternally inherited bacteria were abundant in the two species. These findings are valuable for understanding tick-bacteria interactions, biology and vector competence of ticks.
Highlights
The important roles of microbial flora in tick biology and ecology have received much attention
Tick collection and sample preparation Dermacentor marginatus and D. reticulatus were collected in the area of Slovak Karst, which is one of the mountain ranges of the Slovenské Rudohorie Mountains in the Carpathians in southern Slovakia
In recent years, studies of the tick microbiome have been increasing, especially with the development and application of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies [14]. These studies have investigated the bacterial communities in different ticks [16, 47,48,49,50,51,52], and explored the influence of tick microbiomes on pathogen transmission and susceptibility [15, 16]; their findings strongly suggest that the bacterial microbiome has important roles in tick biology and ecology, and has a potential application in tick control
Summary
The important roles of microbial flora in tick biology and ecology have received much attention. Dermacentor marginatus and Dermacentor reticulatus are known vectors of various pathogens across Europe, including Slovakia. Given the importance of ticks as vectors of pathogens, aspects of tick biology and ecology have received. Gall et al [15] found that a disrupted microbiome of Dermacentor andersoni is correlated with Anaplasma marginale and Francisella novicida susceptibility. These findings are paramount to fully exploiting the microbiome in order to control ticks and TBDs
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