Molecular Analysis of and in Adult Soft Ticks (Acari: Ixodida: Argasidae) Isolated from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China

Overview

Journal J Vet Res

Publisher Sciendo

Specialty Veterinary Medicine

Date 2024 Sep 25

PMID 39318522

Authors

Dandan Liu

Jinming Wang

Yutong Liu

Shuiyi Wang

Huiru Zhu

Bingbing Jiang

Yongchang Li

Yang Zhang

Bayin Chahan

Wei Zhang

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Introduction: Ticks are obligate blood-feeding arthropods that cause significant economic losses in domestic animal husbandry and threaten public health. However, information about soft ticks (Acari: Argasidae) and tick-borne pathogens in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of China is scarce.

Material And Methods: In this study, PCR assays and gene sequencing were used to detect and analyse the epidemiological features of , and parasitic infections in 366 soft ticks collected from five sampling sites in the XUAR from October 2019 to March 2022. The ticks were identified by morphological and molecular methods as . The PCR was conducted using primers complementary to the major surface protein 4 () gene of , the 18S ribosomal RNA (18S rRNA) of and the outer membrane protein 22 () gene of .

Results: The overall infection rate was 91/366 (24.9%) for , 127/366 (34.7%) for and 94/366 (25.6%) for . Sequencing analysis indicated that , 18S rRNA and genes from XUAR isolates showed 99.58-100% identity with documented isolates from other countries.

Conclusion: This study provides fundamental evidence for the occurrence of , and in . Therefore, the potential threat of soft ticks to livestock and humans should not be ignored. This study expands the understanding of the existence of tick-borne pathogens in and is expected to improve the strategies for prevention and control of ticks and tick-borne diseases in China.

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