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Natural history of Amblyomma maculatum in Virginia.

ABSTRACT: The Gulf Coast tick Amblyomma maculatum Koch is increasingly relevant to medical and veterinary communities as human infection rates of Rickettsia parkeri rise, the risk of introduction of Ehrlichia ruminantium increases, and the range of this tick expands into the densely populated Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. We report on the results of five years of field surveillance to better describe the ecology of A. maculatum in newly established populations in southeastern Virginia. We document habitat preferences, host preferences, and the phenology of the adult human-biting life stage. We discuss key ecological factors needed for A. maculatum establishment and the influence of the successional process and anthropogenic activities on the persistence of A. maculatum populations in Virginia.

SUBMITTER: Nadolny RM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5803413 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Natural history of Amblyomma maculatum in Virginia.

Nadolny Robyn M RM Gaff Holly D HD

Ticks and tick-borne diseases 20170905 2

The Gulf Coast tick Amblyomma maculatum Koch is increasingly relevant to medical and veterinary communities as human infection rates of Rickettsia parkeri rise, the risk of introduction of Ehrlichia ruminantium increases, and the range of this tick expands into the densely populated Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. We report on the results of five years of field surveillance to better describe the ecology of A. maculatum in newly established populations in southeastern Virginia. We docu ...[more]

PMID: 28958704

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Project description:Our objective of this study was to explore the bacterial microbiome in fresh or fresh-frozen adult Amblyomma maculatum (Gulf Coast ticks) using extracts enriched for microbial DNA. We collected 100 questing adult A. maculatum, surface disinfected them, and extracted DNA from individual ticks collected the same day or after storage at -80?°C. Because only extracts with microbial DNA concentrations above 2?ng/?L were considered suitable for individual analysis, we expected fewer samples to meet these requirements. Of individual ticks extracted, 48 extracts met this minimum concentration. We pooled 20 additional extracts that had lower concentrations to obtain seven additional pools that met the minimum DNA concentration. Libraries created from these 55 samples were sequenced using an Illumina MiSeq platform, and data sets were analyzed using QIIME to identify relative abundance of microorganisms by phylum down to genus levels. Proteobacteria were in greatest abundance, followed by Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteroidetes, at levels between 1.9% and 6.4% average relative abundance. Consistent with the Francisella-like endosymbiont known to be present in A. maculatum, the genus Francisella was detected at highest relative abundance (72.9%; SE 0.02%) for all samples. Among the top ten genera identified (relative abundance???0.5%) were potential extraction kit contaminants, Sphingomonas and Methylobacterium, the soil bacterium Actinomycetospora, and the known A. maculatum-associated genus, Rickettsia. Four samples had Rickettsia at greater than 1% relative abundance, while nine additional samples had Rickettsia at low (0.01-0.04%) relative abundance. In this study, we used the entire microbe-enriched DNA extract for whole ticks for microbiome analysis. A direct comparison of the microbiome in microbe-enriched DNA and total genomic DNA extracts from halves of the same tick would be useful to determine the utility of this extraction method in this system. We anticipate that future tick microbiome studies will be valuable to explore the influence of microbial diversity on pathogen maintenance and transmission, and to evaluate niche-specific microbiomes within individual tick tissues.

Dataset Information

Natural history of Amblyomma maculatum in Virginia.

Publications

Natural history of Amblyomma maculatum in Virginia.

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