Laboratoire de Parasitologie, Institution de la Recherche et de l'Enseignement Supérieur Agricoles and Univ. Manouba, École Nationale de Médecine Vétérinaire de Sidi Thabet, Sidi Thabet, Tunisia.
Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia.
PLoS One. 2022 May 19;17(5):e0268172. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0268172. eCollection 2022.
Ticks are one of the most important vectors of several pathogens affecting humans and animals. In addition to pathogens, ticks carry diverse microbiota of symbiotic and commensal microorganisms. In this study, we have investigated the first Tunisian insight into the microbial composition of the most dominant Hyalomma species infesting Tunisian cattle and explored the relative contribution of tick sex, life stage, and species to the diversity, richness and bacterial species of tick microbiome. In this regard, next generation sequencing for the 16S rRNA (V3-V4 region) of tick bacterial microbiota and metagenomic analysis were established. The analysis of the bacterial diversity reveals that H. marginatum and H. excavatum have greater diversity than H. scupense. Furthermore, microbial diversity and composition vary according to the tick's life stage and sex in the specific case of H. scupense. The endosymbionts Francisella, Midichloria mitochondrii, and Rickettsia were shown to be the most prevalent in Hyalomma spp. Rickettsia, Francisella, Ehrlichia, and Erwinia are the most common zoonotic bacteria found in Hyalomma ticks. Accordingly, Hyalomma ticks could represent potential vectors for these zoonotic bacterial agents.
蜱是影响人类和动物的几种病原体的最重要载体之一。除了病原体，蜱还携带多种共生和共生微生物的微生物群。在这项研究中，我们首次研究了突尼斯的蜱类微生物组成，这些蜱类寄生在突尼斯的牛身上，并探讨了蜱的性别、生活阶段和种类对蜱微生物组的多样性、丰富度和细菌种类的相对贡献。在这方面，建立了用于蜱细菌微生物群的 16S rRNA（V3-V4 区）的下一代测序和宏基因组分析。细菌多样性的分析表明，H. marginatum 和 H. excavatum 的多样性大于 H. scupense。此外，在特定的 H. scupense 情况下，微生物多样性和组成根据蜱的生活阶段和性别而变化。内共生菌弗朗西斯菌、中粒虫 M. mitochondrii 和立克次氏体在硬蜱属中最为普遍。在硬蜱中发现的常见的人畜共患细菌有立克次氏体、弗朗西斯菌、埃立克体和欧文氏菌。因此，硬蜱可能是这些人畜共患细菌的潜在载体。
