Ergunay Koray, Golubiani Gocha, Kirkitadze Giorgi, Reinbold-Wasson Drew D, Bourke Brian P, Phelps Cody A, Kotorashvili Adam, Kotaria Nato, Hulseberg Christine E, Chunashvili Tamar, Sydenstricker Andrew, Shubashishvili Anano, Musich Thomas A, Linton Yvonne-Marie
Department of Entomology, Smithsonian Institution-National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), Washington, Columbia, United States of America.
Walter Reed Army Institute of Research Europe - Middle East (WRAIR E-ME), Tbilisi, Georgia.
PLoS One. 2025 Sep 3;20(9):e0330544. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0330544. eCollection 2025.
In order to investigate previously reported expansion of tick-borne pathogenic viruses in Eastern Europe, we conducted this study using pooled ticks collected from various locations in Poland, utilizing Sequence Independent Single Primer Amplification (SISPA) and metagenomic sequencing. We processed 575 Dermacentor reticulatus and Ixodes ricinus ticks and generated 280 virus assemblies in 20 pools. Viruses representing 28 species or strains classified in 12 families or higher taxonomic ranks were observed. We identified four tick-borne human pathogens including Alongshan virus (ALSV), Tacheng tick virus 1 (TcTV-1), Tacheng tick virus 2 (TcTV-2) and Nuomin virus (NUMV), in 55% of the pools, comprising 19.2% of the assemblies. We detected ALSV in I. ricinus ticks, with virus genome segments in complete or near-complete forms, comprising the initial reporting of ALSV from Poland. Further analyses revealed phylogenomic clustering with ALSV strains from Europe and lack of recombination signals among virus genomes. TcTV-1 was detected in 35% of the pools comprising D. reticulatus and I. ricinus ticks, implicating I. ricinus in TcTV-1 transmission for the first time. Maximum likelihood analyses on TcTV-1 and TcTV-2 genome segments indicated separate clustering patterns suggesting geographically-segregated clades. Evidence for NUMV or a closely-related chuvirus in I. ricinus ticks was further noted. In conclusion, we identified persistence of previously-documented tick-borne pathogens in Poland as well as additional viruses such as ALSV. Assessment of temporal and spatial patterns for virus circulation and diagnostic assays for these agents is needed. The distribution and public health impact of these pathogens throughout Europe require further investigation.
为了调查先前报道的东欧蜱传致病病毒的扩张情况，我们使用从波兰不同地点采集的混合蜱进行了本研究，采用序列独立单引物扩增（SISPA）和宏基因组测序技术。我们处理了575只血红扇头蜱和蓖麻硬蜱，并在20个样本池中生成了280个病毒组装体。观察到代表12个科或更高分类等级的28种或毒株的病毒。我们在55%的样本池中鉴定出四种蜱传人类病原体，包括阿龙山病毒（ALSV）、塔城蜱病毒1（TcTV-1）、塔城蜱病毒2（TcTV-2）和诺敏病毒（NUMV），占组装体的19.2%。我们在蓖麻硬蜱中检测到ALSV，其病毒基因组片段呈完整或接近完整形式，这是波兰首次报道ALSV。进一步分析显示与来自欧洲的ALSV毒株存在系统基因组聚类，且病毒基因组之间缺乏重组信号。在包含血红扇头蜱和蓖麻硬蜱的35%的样本池中检测到TcTV-1，首次表明蓖麻硬蜱参与了TcTV-1的传播。对TcTV-1和TcTV-2基因组片段的最大似然分析表明存在单独的聚类模式，提示地理隔离的进化枝。还进一步注意到在蓖麻硬蜱中存在NUMV或密切相关的丘病毒的证据。总之，我们确定了波兰先前记录的蜱传病原体以及其他病毒如ALSV的持续性。需要评估这些病毒传播的时间和空间模式以及针对这些病原体的诊断检测方法。这些病原体在整个欧洲的分布及其对公共卫生的影响需要进一步调查。
