Schilling Mirjam, Golding Megan, Jones Ben P, Mansfield Karen L, Gandy Sara, Medlock Jolyon, Johnson Nicholas
Vector-Borne Diseases Workgroup, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Woodham Lane, Addlestone KT15 3NB, UK.
Rabies and Viral Zoonoses Workgroup, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Woodham Lane, Addlestone KT15 3NB, UK.
Viruses. 2024 Mar 26;16(4):504. doi: 10.3390/v16040504.
Ticks are the main arthropod vector of pathogens to humans and livestock in the British Isles. Despite their role as a vector of disease, many aspects of tick biology, ecology, and microbial association are poorly understood. To address this, we investigated the composition of the microbiome of adult and nymphal ticks. The ticks were collected on a dairy farm in Southwest England and RNA extracted for whole genome sequencing. Sequences were detected from a range of microorganisms, particularly tick-associated viruses, bacteria, and nematodes. A majority of the viruses were attributed to phlebo-like and nairo-like virus groups, demonstrating a high degree of homology with the sequences present in from mainland Europe. A virus sharing a high sequence identity with Chimay rhabdovirus, previously identified in ticks from Belgium, was detected. Further investigations of ticks collected from additional sites in England and Wales also identified Chimay rhabdovirus viral RNA with varying prevalence in all tick populations. This suggests that Chimay rhabdovirus has a wide distribution and highlights the need for an extended exploration of the tick microbiome in the United Kingdom (UK).
蜱虫是不列颠群岛上人类和牲畜病原体的主要节肢动物传播媒介。尽管它们作为疾病传播媒介发挥着作用，但蜱虫生物学、生态学和微生物关联的许多方面仍知之甚少。为了解决这个问题，我们调查了成年蜱虫和若虫蜱虫微生物组的组成。蜱虫是在英格兰西南部的一个奶牛场采集的，并提取了RNA用于全基因组测序。检测到了一系列微生物的序列，特别是与蜱虫相关的病毒、细菌和线虫。大多数病毒属于白蛉样病毒群和奈罗样病毒群，与欧洲大陆存在的序列具有高度同源性。检测到一种与先前在比利时蜱虫中发现的奇迈弹状病毒具有高度序列同一性的病毒。对从英格兰和威尔士其他地点采集的蜱虫的进一步调查也在所有蜱虫种群中发现了奇迈弹状病毒的病毒RNA，其流行程度各不相同。这表明奇迈弹状病毒分布广泛，并凸显了在英国对蜱虫微生物组进行进一步探索的必要性。
