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

Ponnusamy, Loganathan; González, Antonio G.; Treuren, Will Van; Weiss, Sophie; Parobek, Christian M.; Juliano, Jonathan J.; Knight, Rob; Roe, R. Michael; Apperson, Charles S.; Meshnick, Steven R.

doi:10.1128/aem.02987-13

Cited by 94 publications

(108 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…The microbiota from females was less diverse, possibly because they had higher relative burdens of Rickettsia, especially 5 OTUs. The increased burden of rickettsial populations is similar to that found by us (17) and by Clay and Fuqua (14) in Amblyomma americanum ticks. The increased burden of Rickettsia in females could be an adaptation to transovarial transmission (40).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

“…Genomic DNA was extracted from individual ticks using methods described previously (17,21). The extracted DNA samples were further purified with a Wizard DNA cleanup system (Promega, Madison, WI, USA) and quantified with a NanoDrop spectrophotometer (Thermo Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bacterial gene amplification of the PCR products was performed as described previously by Ponnusamy et al (17). 16S rRNA genes were amplified using primers 27F/534R targeting the V1 to V3 hypervariable regions and covering a sequence distance of ϳ500 bp, multiplexed with 10-mer nucleotide bar codes, and sequenced using the 454 technology.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While there have been many studies of tick microbiomes (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17), relatively little is known about the microbiota of Ixodes ticks. Efforts to identify microbial commensals and symbionts have been made using culture-based methods (18), cloning, and sequencing of gel-purified PCR products (4).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Variation in the Microbiota of Ixodes Ticks with Regard to Geography, Species, and Sex

Treuren

Ponnusamy

Brinkerhoff

et al. 2015

Appl Environ Microbiol

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179

204

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n Ixodes scapularis is the principal vector of Lyme disease on the East Coast and in the upper Midwest regions of the UnitedStates, yet the tick is also present in the Southeast, where Lyme disease is absent or rare. A closely related species, I. affinis, also carries the pathogen in the South but does not seem to transmit it to humans. In order to better understand the geographic diversity of the tick, we analyzed the microbiota of 104 adult I. scapularis and 13 adult I. affinis ticks captured in 19 locations in South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Connecticut, and New York. Initially, ticks from 4 sites were analyzed by 454 pyrosequencing. Subsequently, ticks from these sites plus 15 others were analyzed by sequencing with an Illumina MiSeq machine. By both analyses, the microbiomes of female ticks were significantly less diverse than those of male ticks. The dissimilarity between tick microbiomes increased with distance between sites, and the state in which a tick was collected could be inferred from its microbiota. The genus Rickettsia was prominent in all locations. Borrelia was also present in most locations and was present at especially high levels in one site in western Virginia. In contrast, members of the family Enterobacteriaceae were very common in North Carolina I. scapularis ticks but uncommon in I. scapularis ticks from other sites and in North Carolina I. affinis ticks. These data suggest substantial variations in the Ixodes microbiota in association with geography, species, and sex.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Variation in the Microbiota of Ixodes Ticks with Regard to Geography, Species, and Sex

Treuren

Ponnusamy

Brinkerhoff

et al. 2015

Appl Environ Microbiol

Self Cite

179

204

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“…The diversity of microbial communities has been characterized in different ticks (16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21). The effect of tick microbiota on the transmission of human infectious diseases, and the molecular mechanisms underlying these processes, has only recently received attention.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Pathogen-mediated manipulation of arthropod microbiota to promote infection

Abraham

Liu

Jutras

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

227

295

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Arthropods transmit diverse infectious agents; however, the ways microbes influence their vector to enhance colonization are poorly understood.Ixodes scapularisticks harbor numerous human pathogens, includingAnaplasma phagocytophilum,the agent of human granulocytic anaplasmosis. We now demonstrate thatA. phagocytophilummodifies theI. scapularismicrobiota to more efficiently infect the tick.A. phagocytophiluminduces ticks to expressIxodes scapularisantifreeze glycoprotein (iafgp), which encodes a protein with several properties, including the ability to alter bacterial biofilm formation. IAFGP thereby perturbs the tick gut microbiota, which influences the integrity of the peritrophic matrix and gut barrier—critical obstacles forAnaplasmacolonization. Mechanistically, IAFGP binds the terminald-alanine residue of the pentapeptide chain of bacterial peptidoglycan, resulting in altered permeability and the capacity of bacteria to form biofilms. These data elucidate the molecular mechanisms by which a human pathogen appropriates an arthropod antibacterial protein to alter the gut microbiota and more effectively colonize the vector.

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Drivers and patterns of microbial community assembly in a Lyme disease vector

Couper

Kwan

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Vector‐borne diseases constitute a major global health burden and are increasing in geographic range and prevalence. Mounting evidence has demonstrated that the vector microbiome can impact pathogen dynamics, making the microbiome a focal point in vector‐borne disease ecology. However, efforts to generalize preliminary findings across studies and systems and translate these findings into disease control strategies are hindered by a lack of fundamental understanding of the processes shaping the vector microbiome and the interactions therein. Here, we use 16S rRNA sequencing and apply a community ecology framework to analyze microbiome community assembly and interactions in Ixodes pacificus , the Lyme disease vector in the western United States. We find that vertical transmission routes drive population‐level patterns in I. pacificus microbial diversity and composition, but that microbial function and overall abundance do not vary over time or between clutches. Further, we find that the I. pacificus microbiome is not strongly structured based on competition but assembles nonrandomly, potentially due to vector‐specific filtering processes which largely eliminate all but the dominant endosymbiont, Rickettsia . At the scale of the individual I. pacificus , we find support for a highly limited internal microbial community, and hypothesize that the tick endosymbiont may be the most important component of the vector microbiome in influencing pathogen dynamics.

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

Cited by 94 publications

References 39 publications

Variation in the Microbiota of Ixodes Ticks with Regard to Geography, Species, and Sex

Variation in the Microbiota of Ixodes Ticks with Regard to Geography, Species, and Sex

Pathogen-mediated manipulation of arthropod microbiota to promote infection

Drivers and patterns of microbial community assembly in a Lyme disease vector

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