Department of Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria.
School of Health, Sport and Bioscience, University of East London, London, UK.
Vet Med Sci. 2022 Mar;8(2):454-459. doi: 10.1002/vms3.655. Epub 2022 Feb 15.
Rhipicephalus sanguineus is the most widely reported tick in the world. Molecular characterisation is important to verify its taxonomic status in the different parts of the world. In this study, we provide information on the molecular characterisation of R. sanguineus tick of dogs collected from Nigeria. Ticks were collected from 62 of 93 sampled dogs. The collected ticks were subjected to morphological identification with the aid of appropriate entomological keys. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was extracted from the most prevalent tick species (R. sanguineus) and was subjected to further molecular characterisation protocols. The partial mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene sequences (∼300 bp) were obtained from representative specimens. Data were statistically analysed using the chi-square (χ ) test. Phylogenetic analysis was performed including different lineages of R. sanguineus (sl) from Africa, Asia, Europe and America, and other species belonging to the R. sanguineus 'tropical lineage' (R. linnaei) as well as Rhipicephalus turanicus and Ixodes ricinus. Results of this study showed that R. sanguineus was the most abundant ticks of dogs with a prevalence of 61.8% (68/110; 95% CI = 52.5-70.54), followed by Amblyomma variegatum (20.0%) and Haemaphysalis leachi (18.2%). The molecular analysis shows that they are genetically different from the temperate strains but closely related to those from other West African countries. There is a need to establish the vector competence of this common Nigerian dog tick.
血红扇头蜱是世界上报道最广泛的蜱种。分子特征对于验证其在世界不同地区的分类地位非常重要。本研究提供了尼日利亚犬体上采集的血红扇头蜱的分子特征信息。从 93 只采样犬中采集了 62 只蜱。用适当的昆虫学钥匙对采集的蜱进行了形态学鉴定。从最常见的蜱种（血红扇头蜱）中提取脱氧核糖核酸（DNA），并进行进一步的分子特征分析。从代表性样本中获得了部分线粒体 16S rRNA 基因序列（约 300bp）。使用卡方（χ ）检验对数据进行了统计学分析。进行了系统发育分析，包括来自非洲、亚洲、欧洲和美洲的不同血红扇头蜱（sl）谱系，以及属于血红扇头蜱“热带谱系”（R. linnaei）的其他物种以及钝缘蜱和璃眼蜱。本研究结果表明，血红扇头蜱是犬体上最丰富的蜱种，流行率为 61.8%（68/110；95%CI=52.5-70.54），其次是花蜱（20.0%）和璃眼蜱（18.2%）。分子分析表明，它们与温带株系在遗传上不同，但与来自其他西非国家的株系密切相关。有必要确定这种常见的尼日利亚犬蜱的媒介效能。
