Microbiome of Invasive Tick Species Haemaphysalis longicornis in North Carolina, USA

• Published in: Insects (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2024-02, Vol.15 (3), p.153
• Main Authors: Ponnusamy, Loganathan, Travanty, Nicholas V, Watson, D Wes, Seagle, Steven W, Boyce, Ross M, Reiskind, Michael H
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 16S rRNA; Acinetobacter; Actinomycetales; Animal diseases; Animal health; Animals; Arachnids; Bacteria; Coxiella; Coxiella spp; developmental stage; Developmental stages; Females; Gene amplification; Gene sequencing; Haemaphysalis longicornis; Identification and classification; Introduced species; Invasive species; Livestock; Microbial colonies; microbiome; Microbiomes; Microorganisms; Next-generation sequencing; Nucleotide sequence; Pathogens; Phylogenetics; Pseudomonas; Rarefaction; rRNA 16S; Sphingobium; Sphingomonadaceae; Sphingomonas; Staphylococcus; Taxa; Taxonomy; Ticks; Vectors; Viruses
• ISSN: 2075-4450; 2075-4450
• DOI: 10.3390/insects15030153

Ticks are one of the most important vectors of human and animal disease worldwide. In addition to pathogens, ticks carry a diverse microbiota of symbiotic and commensal microorganisms. In this study, we used next-generation sequencing (NGS) to survey the microbiomes of (Acari: Ixodidae) at different life stages collected from field populations in North Carolina (NC), USA. Sequence analyses were performed using QIIME2 with the DADA2 plugin and taxonomic assignments using the Greengenes database. Following quality filtering and rarefaction, the bacterial DNA sequences were assigned to 4795 amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) in 105 ticks. A core microbiome of was conserved across all ticks analyzed, and included bacterial taxa: , , , , , Sphingomonadaceae, Actinomycetales, and . Less abundant bacterial taxa, including and were also identified in some ticks. We discovered some ASVs that are associated with human and animal infections among the identified bacteria. Alpha diversity metrics revealed significant differences in bacterial diversity between life stages. Beta diversity metrics also revealed that bacterial communities across the three life stages were significantly different, suggesting dramatic changes in the microbiome as ticks mature. Based on these results, additional investigation is necessary to determine the significance of the microbiome for animal and human health.