First metagenomic report of and in Poland - a preliminary study.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE

() and () are the most common ticks in Poland. These ticks contain many bacteria, which compose a microbiome with potential impact on humans. The aim of the study was to discover the microbiome of ticks in Poland.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Ticks were collected in The Protected Landscape Area of the Bug and Nurzec Valley, Poland, in 2016-2018 by flagging. They were cleaned in 70% ethanol and damaged in mortar with PBS (without Ca and Mg ions). DNA was extracted from the homogenates with spin columns kits, and used as a matrix in end-point PCR for bacterial fragments amplifications, and further for next generation sequencing (NGS) by ILLUMINA.

RESULTS

In 22 ticks (3 and 19 ) 38 microorganisms were detected. The most common were and . In 17 ticks, , and in 12 were found. In 2, specific DNA of and were found. In one female, and were found. and were detected in 9 and 8 ticks, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Polish ticks microbiome contains not only well-known tick-borne pathogens, but also other pathogenic microorganisms. For the first time in Poland, and in collected from the environment were detected. The dominant pathogenic microorganisms for humans were spp. and spp., and non-pathogenic - . Knowledge of a tick microbiome might be useful in tick-borne biocontrol and tick-borne diseases prevention.