Diversity of Rickettsiales in the Microbiome of the Lone Star Tick, Amblyomma Americanum

Overview

Journal Appl Environ Microbiol

Specialties Environmental Health
Microbiology

Date 2013 Oct 29

PMID 24162580

Citations 52

Authors

Loganathan Ponnusamy

Antonio Gonzalez

Will Van Treuren

Sophie Weiss

Christian M Parobek

Jonathan J Juliano

Rob Knight

R Michael Roe

Charles S Apperson

Steven R Meshnick

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Ticks are important vectors for many emerging pathogens. However, they are also infected with many symbionts and commensals, often competing for the same niches. In this paper, we characterize the microbiome of Amblyomma americanum (Acari: Ixodidae), the lone star tick, in order to better understand the evolutionary relationships between pathogens and nonpathogens. Multitag pyrosequencing of prokaryotic 16S rRNA genes (16S rRNA) was performed on 20 lone star ticks (including males, females, and nymphs). Pyrosequencing of the rickettsial sca0 gene (also known as ompA or rompA) was performed on six ticks. Female ticks had less diverse microbiomes than males and nymphs, with greater population densities of Rickettsiales. The most common members of Rickettsiales were "Candidatus Rickettsia amblyommii" and "Candidatus Midichloria mitochondrii." "Ca. Rickettsia amblyommii" was 2.6-fold more common in females than males, and there was no sequence diversity in the sca0 gene. These results are consistent with a predominantly vertical transmission pattern for "Ca. Rickettsia amblyommii."

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