Institute of Infection & Global Health, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK; College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Al-Qadisiyah, Qadisiyyah Province, Iraq.
Institute of Infection & Global Health, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
Ticks Tick Borne Dis. 2020 Jan;11(1):101299. doi: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2019.101299. Epub 2019 Sep 9.
Vertically-transmitted bacterial symbionts are widespread in ticks and have manifold impacts on the epidemiology of tick-borne diseases. For instance, they may provide essential nutrients to ticks, affect vector competence, induce immune responses in vertebrate hosts, or even evolve to become vertebrate pathogens. The deer or blacklegged tick Ixodes scapularis harbours the symbiont Rickettsia buchneri in its ovarian tissues. Here we show by molecular, proteomic and imaging methods that R. buchneri is also capable of colonising the salivary glands of wild I. scapularis. This finding has important implications for the diagnosis of rickettsial infections and for pathogen-symbiont interactions in this notorious vector of Lyme borreliosis.
垂直传播的细菌共生体在蜱中广泛存在，并对蜱传疾病的流行病学有多种影响。例如，它们可能为蜱提供必需的营养物质，影响媒介的感染力，在脊椎动物宿主中诱导免疫反应，甚至进化成为脊椎动物病原体。鹿或黑腿蜱（Ixodes scapularis）的卵巢组织中含有共生菌 Rickettsia buchneri。本研究通过分子、蛋白质组学和成像方法表明，R. buchneri 还能够定植野生 I. scapularis 的唾液腺。这一发现对莱姆病的这种臭名昭著的传播媒介的立克次氏体感染的诊断以及对病原体-共生体相互作用具有重要意义。
