Zoology Section, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Ege University, Bornova, İzmir, Turkey.
Molecular Biology Section, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Ege University, Bornova, İzmir, Turkey.
Exp Appl Acarol. 2020 Jun;81(2):239-253. doi: 10.1007/s10493-020-00498-y. Epub 2020 May 11.
Ticks are obligate hematophagous ectoparasites as well as mechanical and biological vectors of a wide variety of microbial pathogens. To date, 19 tick-borne diseases have been reported from Turkey. In this study, ticks collected from Aydın, İzmir and Şanlıurfa provinces of Turkey were identified using morphological and molecular methods. After the presence of bacterial DNA was checked, Rickettsia spp. and Francisella tularensis were investigated in bacterial DNA-positive tick specimens by PCR. Furthermore, amplicons belonging to tick specimens and positive bacterial samples were sequenced and processed for BLAST, alignment and phylogenetic analysis. As a result, seven tick species were identified: Rhipicephalus sanguineus, Rh. bursa, Rh. turanicus, Hyalomma marginatum, Hy. aegyptium, Hy. anatolicum and Haemaphysalis erinacei. Fifty-five tick specimens tested positive for bacterial DNA and among them, rickettsial DNA was found in five ticks (infection rate = 9.1%) belonging to Hy. marginatum, Hy. aegyptium, Rh. bursa and Rh. turanicus. Of the five Rickettsia-positive ticks, three contained Rickettsia aeschlimannii, one Ri. massiliae and one an unidentified Rickettsia sp. No Francisella tularensis DNA was detected. Sequence analysis of the ompB gene indicated two novel single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in two different Ri. aeschlimannii strains and two novel SNPs as well as a novel insertion (GACGGT) were found in Rickettsia sp. This study indicated the presence of polymorphic Rickettsia species in ticks from Turkey.
蜱是专性吸血的外寄生虫，也是多种微生物病原体的机械和生物传播媒介。迄今为止，土耳其已报告了 19 种蜱传疾病。在这项研究中，使用形态学和分子方法鉴定了从土耳其阿伊登、伊兹密尔和尚勒乌尔法省采集的蜱。在检查细菌 DNA 的存在后，通过 PCR 研究了细菌 DNA 阳性蜱标本中的立克次体和土拉弗朗西斯菌。此外，属于蜱标本和阳性细菌样本的扩增子进行了测序，并进行了 BLAST、比对和系统发育分析。结果鉴定了 7 种蜱种：血红扇头蜱、牛蜱、图兰蜱、边缘硬蜱、埃及硬蜱、安纳托利亚硬蜱和刺猬硬蜱。55 个蜱标本对细菌 DNA 呈阳性，其中 5 个属于边缘硬蜱、埃及硬蜱、牛蜱和图兰蜱的蜱（感染率=9.1%）检测到立克次体 DNA。在 5 个立克次体阳性蜱中，有 3 个含有拉氏立克次体，1 个 Ri. massiliae 和 1 个未鉴定的立克次体。未检测到土拉弗朗西斯菌 DNA。ompB 基因的序列分析表明，两种不同的拉氏立克次体菌株中有两个新的单核苷酸多态性（SNP），以及在立克次体中发现了两个新的 SNP 和一个新的插入（GACGGT）。本研究表明，土耳其蜱中存在多态性立克次体。
