Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry (DAGRI), University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Piemonte, Liguria e Valle d'Aosta, Turin, Italy.
Med Vet Entomol. 2023 Sep;37(3):472-482. doi: 10.1111/mve.12644. Epub 2023 Jan 30.
The hippoboscid Lipoptena fortisetosa Maa, 1965 is a hematophagous ectoparasite of cervids that can bite humans. This fly is expanding its geographical range and is of concern for animal and human health since it can potentially harbour harmful microorganisms. This study was aimed at characterizing the bacterial communities of L. fortisetosa in its different life-cycle stages. Pupae and wingless adults were collected from cervids hunted in Tuscan-Emilian Apennines (central Italy) and pooled into groups of 10 by life stage (30 individual pupae; 1420 individual wingless adults). Winged flies were caught by sweep netting and separated into five pools of 10 insects. After DNA extraction, the bacterial content of each pool was analysed using 16 S metabarcoding. Results revealed that the composition and relative abundance of different taxa greatly differed in the three analysed groups. Wingless adults showed a high abundance of Bartonella (33.07%), which is almost absent in winged flies and pupae. Among the detected pathogens, four genera of concern for human health were found: Bartonella, Moraxella, Mycobacterium and Rickettsia. Interestingly reads similar to Bartonella bovis, Moraxella osloensis and Arsenophonus lipopteni Operational Taxonomic Unit (OTUs) were detected. These findings suggest the possible role of L. fortisetosa as a reservoir of pathogenic microorganisms, confirming the need for further investigation to ascertain its vectorial capacity.
吸血虻属的 Lipoptena fortisetosa Maa，1965 是一种吸血的外寄生虫，可叮咬人类。这种蝇正在扩大其地理范围，并引起了动物和人类健康的关注，因为它可能携带有害的微生物。本研究旨在描述不同生命周期阶段的 L. fortisetosa 的细菌群落特征。蛹和无翅成虫是从在托斯卡纳-艾米利亚亚平宁山脉（意大利中部）狩猎的鹿中收集的，并按生活阶段（30 个个体蛹；1420 个无翅成虫）分为 10 个组。有翅蝇通过扫网捕获，并分为五个每组 10 只昆虫的组。提取 DNA 后，使用 16S 代谢组学分析每个组的细菌含量。结果表明，在三个分析组中，不同分类群的组成和相对丰度差异很大。无翅成虫中 Bartonella（33.07%）的丰度很高，而在有翅蝇和蛹中几乎不存在。在检测到的病原体中，发现了四个对人类健康有影响的属：Bartonella、Moraxella、Mycobacterium 和 Rickettsia。有趣的是，检测到与 Bartonella bovis、Moraxella osloensis 和 Arsenophonus lipopteni 操作分类单元（OTU）相似的reads。这些发现表明 L. fortisetosa 可能是致病微生物的宿主，证实需要进一步调查以确定其媒介能力。
