The Impact of Tick-Borne Pathogens Infection on the Microbiome Composition of the Tick Vector
Abdulsalam Adegoke and Shahid Karim
Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, School of Biological, Environmental, and Earth Sciences, The University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS
The competent tick vector is capable of transmitting several groups of bacterial, viral and protozoan pathogens to both humans and animals as a whole. Of significant importance in tropical and sub-tropical regions are Theileriosis, Babesiosis, and Anaplasmosis which poses significant deleterious effects on various livestock animals by drastically reducing production and making them life carriers. Some of these pathogens also pose significant zoonotic challenges and thus pose a risk of being introduced to new environments in the face of human and animal movement and ongoing climate change. Recently, studies have shown that ticks like in other arthropods and insects harbor several non-pathogenic microbes which have either obligate or facultative relationships with the tick by conferring reproductive, physiologic and immune support to the tick. This microbial community has also been observed to play a significant role in interacting with the different pathogens transmitted by the ticks.
This study seeks to understand bacterial communities in Spotted Fever Group Rickettsia, Theileria annulata, Babesia microti and Anaplasma marginale infected tick belonging to the Genus Hyalomma and Rhipicephalus. To achieve this, a total number of 311 hard ticks including Hyalomma dromedarii, Hyalomma anatolicum anatolicum, and Rhipicephalus microplus were collected from areas with high livestock activity from Pakistan. Single tick genomic DNA was isolated with subsequent PCR amplification using primers specific for the outer membrane proteinA (OmpA) of the Spotted Fever Group Rickettsia, 18S rRNA gene of Theileria genus and the 16S rRNA gene of Anaplasma marginale which were used to detect for the presence of single or co-infection in individual ticks. The bacterial diversity across the clean and pathogen-infected tick species was examined by bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequencing using Illumina sequencing platform. The results of pathogen diversity and microbiome composition will be presented.