Ackermann Rebecca E, Gall Cory A, Brayton Kelly A, Collins Nicola E, van Wyk Ilana, Wentzel Jeanette, Kolo Agatha O, Oosthuizen Marinda C
Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort, South Africa.
Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, Washington State University, Pullman, USA.
Sci Rep. 2025 May 20;15(1):17434. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-99189-0.
Tick-borne bacterial pathogens from animals play a significant role in the (re)emergence of human diseases. Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato, a globally prevalent tick, predominantly parasitises domestic dogs but can also feed on humans. We characterised temporal changes in the bacterial microbiome of the midgut and salivary gland tissues of R. sanguineus s.l. ticks and analysed their potential as reservoirs for pathogenic bacteria. A 16 S microbiome and amplicon sequence variant (ASV) approach was used to study the bacteria present in the tissues of R. sanguineus s.l. ticks collected from dogs in Hluvukani, a village in a rural community in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, South Africa, in 2016, 2017 and 2019. Post processing, we obtained 43,161 total sequence reads which were clustered into ASVs by sample year. The final ASVs dataset consisted of seven genera: Coxiella, Anaplasma, Escherichia/Shigella, Ehrlichia, Borrelia, Rickettsia and Wolbachia. No differences in the microbiome profiles of the MG and SG tissues were noted. Coxiella endosymbionts dominated the microbiome in all years. Anaplasma was first detected in 2017, and an increase in Anaplasma levels was detected in 2019, when compared to 2017. All other genera were present at low levels. With the exclusion of Wolbachia, the other detected genera could have pathogenic potential, highlighting the role that R. sanguineus s.l. might play as a reservoir of pathogens.
来自动物的蜱传细菌病原体在人类疾病的（再）出现中起着重要作用。血红扇头蜱（Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato）是一种全球普遍存在的蜱虫，主要寄生于家犬，但也会叮咬人类。我们对血红扇头蜱（R. sanguineus s.l.）中肠和唾液腺组织的细菌微生物群的时间变化进行了表征，并分析了它们作为病原菌宿主的潜力。采用16S微生物组和扩增子序列变体（ASV）方法，研究了2016年、2017年和2019年从南非姆普马兰加省布什布克里奇农村社区的一个村庄赫卢瓦卡尼的犬只身上采集的血红扇头蜱（R. sanguineus s.l.）组织中存在的细菌。经过后处理，我们共获得43161条序列读数，按样本年份聚类为ASV。最终的ASV数据集由七个属组成：柯克斯体属（Coxiella）、无形体属（Anaplasma）、埃希氏菌属/志贺氏菌属（Escherichia/Shigella）、埃立克体属（Ehrlichia）、疏螺旋体属（Borrelia）、立克次体属（Rickettsia）和沃尔巴克氏体属（Wolbachia）。未发现中肠和唾液腺组织的微生物组谱存在差异。柯克斯体属内共生菌在所有年份都主导着微生物组。无形体属在2017年首次被检测到，与2017年相比，2019年无形体属水平有所增加。所有其他属的含量都很低。除沃尔巴克氏体属外，其他检测到的属可能具有致病潜力，突出了血红扇头蜱（R. sanguineus s.l.）可能作为病原体宿主的作用。
