Tick microbial communities within enriched extracts of Amblyomma maculatum.

ABSTRACT: 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/μL 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 Illumin

SUBMITTER: Varela-Stokes AS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5962414 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature