Dataset Information

First detection and molecular identification of Borrelia garinii spirochete from Ixodes ovatus tick ectoparasitized on stray cat in Taiwan.

ABSTRACT: Borrelia garinii spirochete was detected for the first time in Ixodes ovatus tick ectoparasitized on stray cat in Taiwan. The genetic identity of this detected spirochete was determined by analyzing the gene sequence amplified by genospecies-specific polymerase chain reaction assays based on the 5S-23S intergenic spacer amplicon (rrf-rrl) and outer surface protein A (ospA) genes of B. burgdorferi sensu lato. Phylogenetic relationships were analyzed by comparing the sequences of rrf-rrl and ospA genes obtained from 27 strains of Borrelia spirochetes representing six genospecies of Borrelia. Seven major clades can be easily distinguished by neighbour-joining analysis and were congruent by maximum-parsimony method. Phylogenetic analysis based on rrf-rrl gene revealed that this detected spirochete (strain IO-TP-TW) was genetically affiliated to the same clade with a high homogeneous sequences (96.7 to 98.1% similarity) within the genospecies of B. garinii and can be discriminated from other genospecies of Borrelia spirochetes. Interspecies analysis based on the genetic distance values indicates a lower level (<0.022) of genetic divergence (GD) within the genospecies of B. garinii, and strain IO-TP-TW was genetically more distant ( >0.113) to the strains identified in I. ovatus collected from Japan and China. Intraspecies analysis also reveals a higher homogeneity (GD<0.005) between tick (strain IO-TP-TW) and human (strain Bg-PP-TW1) isolates of B. garinii in Taiwan. This study provides the first evidence of B. garinii isolated and identified in an I. ovatus tick in Asia, and the higher homogeneity of B. garinii between tick and human strain may imply the risk of human infection by I. ovatus bite.

SUBMITTER: Chao LL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4208787 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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First detection and molecular identification of Borrelia garinii spirochete from Ixodes ovatus tick ectoparasitized on stray cat in Taiwan.

Chao Li-Lian LL Liu Li-Ling LL Ho Tsung-Yu TY Shih Chien-Ming CM

PloS one 20141024 10

Borrelia garinii spirochete was detected for the first time in Ixodes ovatus tick ectoparasitized on stray cat in Taiwan. The genetic identity of this detected spirochete was determined by analyzing the gene sequence amplified by genospecies-specific polymerase chain reaction assays based on the 5S-23S intergenic spacer amplicon (rrf-rrl) and outer surface protein A (ospA) genes of B. burgdorferi sensu lato. Phylogenetic relationships were analyzed by comparing the sequences of rrf-rrl and ospA ...[more]

PMID: 25343260

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Project description:Borrelia garinii, a causative agent of Lyme borreliosis in Europe and Asia, is naturally maintained in marine and terrestrial enzootic cycles, which primarily involve birds, including seabirds and migratory passerines. These bird groups associate with, correspondingly, Ixodes uriae and Ixodes ricinus ticks, of which the latter species may bite and transmit the infection to humans. Studies of the overlap between these two natural cycles of B. garinii have been limited, in part due to the absence of representative collections of this spirochete's samples, as well as of the lack of reliable measure of the genetic heterogeneity of its strains. As a prerequisite for understanding the epidemiological correlates of the complex maintenance of B. garinii, the present study sought to assess the diversity and phylogenetic relationships of this species' strains from its natural hosts and patients with Lyme borreliosis from subarctic Eurasia. We used sequence typing of the partial rrs-rrl intergenic spacer (IGS) of archived and prospective samples of B. garinii from I. uriae ticks collected predominantly on Commander Islands in North Pacific, as well as on the islands in northern Sweden and arctic Norway. We also typed B. garinii samples from patients with Lyme borreliosis and I. ricinus ticks infesting migratory birds in southern Sweden, or found questing in selected sites on the islands in the Baltic Sea and Lithuania. Fifty-two (68%) of 77 B. garinii samples representing wide geographical range and associated with I. ricinus and infection of humans contributed 12 (60%) of total 20 identified IGS variants. In contrast, the remaining 25 (32%) samples recovered from I. uriae ticks from a few islands accounted for as many as 10 (50%) IGS types, suggesting greater local diversity of B. garinii maintained by seabirds and their ticks. Two IGS variants of the spirochete in common for both tick species were found in I. ricinus larvae from migratory birds, an indication that B. garinii strains are exchanged between different ecological niches. Notably, B. garinii variants associated with I. uriae ticks were found in each of the six clusters, representing two phylogenetic lineages of this species identified among the studied samples. Our findings suggest that B. garinii in subarctic Eurasia comprises two partially overlapping populations with different levels of genetic heterogeneity, presumably, due to distinctive selective pressures on the spirochete in its marine and terrestrial enzootic cycles.

Dataset Information

First detection and molecular identification of Borrelia garinii spirochete from Ixodes ovatus tick ectoparasitized on stray cat in Taiwan.

Publications

First detection and molecular identification of Borrelia garinii spirochete from Ixodes ovatus tick ectoparasitized on stray cat in Taiwan.

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