Dataset Information

Molecular detection and phylogenetic analyses of Anaplasma spp. in Haemaphysalis longicornis from goats in four provinces of China.

ABSTRACT: Anaplasma species, which are distributed worldwide, are gram-negative obligate intracellular tick-borne bacteria that pose a threat to human and animal health. Haemaphysalis longicornis ticks play a vital role as vectors in the transmission of Anaplasma pathogens. However, the Anaplasma species carried by H. longicornis in China are yet to be characterized. In this study, 1074 H. longicornis specimens were collected from goats in four provinces of China from 2018 to 2019 and divided into 371 sample pools. All tick sample pools were examined for the presence of Anaplasma species via nested PCR amplification of 16S ribosomal RNA, major surface protein 4 (msp4), or citric acid synthase (gltA) genes, which were sequenced to determine the molecular and phylogenetic characteristics of the isolates. The overall Anaplasma spp-positive rate of H. longicornis was determined to be 26.68% (99/371). The percentage prevalence of A. phagocytophilum-like1, A. bovis, A. ovis, A. marginale, and A. capra were 1.08% (4/371), 13.21% (49/371), 13.21% (49/371), 1.35% (5/371), and 10.24% (38/371), respectively, and the co-infection rate of two or more types of Anaplasma was 6.47% (24/371). Phylogenetic analyses led to the classification of A. phagocytophilum into an A. phagocytophilum-like1 (Anaplasma sp. Japan) group. Anaplasma bovis sequences obtained in this study were 99.8-100% identical to those of an earlier strain isolated from a Chinese tick (GenBank accession no. KP314251). Anaplasma ovis sequences showed 99.3-99.6% identity to an A. ovis human strain identified from a Cypriot patient (GenBank accession no. FJ460443). Only one msp4 sequence of A. marginale was detected and was grouped with those of other A. marginale isolates, and these A. capra isolates obtained in this present study may be zoonotic. The detection and characterization of four Anaplasma species in H. longicornis in this study have added to the current knowledge of the parasite and provided data on multiple Anaplasma species with veterinary and medical significance from four provinces of China.

SUBMITTER: Yan Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8266805 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:Ticks are important disease vectors, as they transmit a variety of human and animal pathogens worldwide. Symbionts that coevolved with ticks confer crucial benefits to their host in nutrition metabolism, fecundity, and vector competence. Although over 100 tick species have been identified in China, general information on tick symbiosis is limited. Here, we visualized the tissue distribution of Coxiella sp. and Rickettsia sp. in lab-reared Haemaphysalis longicornis and Rhipicephalus haemaphysaloides by fluorescent in situ hybridization. We found that Coxiella sp. colonized exclusively the Malpighian tubules and ovaries of H. longicornis, while Rickettsia sp. additionally colonized the midgut of R. haemaphysaloides We also investigated the population structure of microbiota in Dermacentor silvarum ticks collected from Inner Mongolia, China, and found that Coxiella, Rickettsia, and Pseudomonas are the three dominant genera. No significant difference in microbiota composition was found between male and female D. silvarum ticks. We again analyzed the tissue localization of Coxiella sp. and Rickettsia sp. and found that they displayed tissue tropisms similar to those in R. haemaphysaloides, except that Rickettsia sp. colonized the nuclei of spermatids instead of ovaries in D. silvarum Altogether, our results suggest that Coxiella sp. and Rickettsia sp. are the main symbionts in the three ticks and reside primarily in midgut, Malpighian tubules, and reproductive tissues, but their tissue distribution varies in association with species and sexes.IMPORTANCE Tick-borne diseases constitute a major public health burden, as they are increasing in frequency and severity worldwide. The presence of symbionts helps ticks to metabolize nutrients, promotes fecundity, and influences pathogen infections. Increasing numbers of tick-borne pathogens have been identified in China; however, knowledge of native ticks, especially tick symbiosis, is limited. In this study, we analyze the distribution of Coxiella sp. and Rickettsia sp. in tissues of laboratory-reared Haemaphysalis longicornis and Rhipicephalus haemaphysaloides and field-collected Dermacentor silvarum We found that the localization patterns of Coxiella sp. in three Chinese tick species were similar to those of other tick species. We also found a previously undefined intracellular localization of Rickettsia sp. in tick midgut and spermatids. In addition, we demonstrate that tissue tropisms of symbionts vary between species and sexes. Our findings provide new insights into the tissue localization of symbionts in native Chinese ticks and pave the way for further understanding of their functional capabilities and symbiotic interactions with ticks.

Project description:Anaplasma capra is an emerging pathogen, which can infect ruminants and humans. This study was conducted to determine the occurrence of A. capra in the blood samples of sheep and goats in China. Using nested polymerase chain reaction (nested-PCR) targeting the gltA gene and conventional PCR targeting the heat shock protein (groEL) gene and the major surface protein4 gene (msp4), A. capra was detected in 129 (8.9%) of 1453 sheep and goat blood samples. The positive rate was higher in goats (9.4%, 89/943) than in sheep (7.8%, 40/510) (?2 = 1.04, p > 0.05, df = 1). For sheep, A. capra was found in 17 sites from 2 provinces. The prevalence was 28.6% in sheep from Liaoning province, which was higher than in Henan Province (7.3%). For goats, A. capra was detected in 35 sites from 7 provinces. The prevalence varied from 0 to 19.4% in the goat sites examined. The prevalence rates were 19.4, 19.3, 10, 8.8, 6.8, 1.8, and 0% in goats from Guizhou province, Henan Province, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Shanxi Province, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Yunnan province, and Gansu province, respectively. Based on the analysis of the A. capra citrate synthase gene (gltA), two variants were identified. Variant I showed a high sequence similarity to the A. capra, which were previously reported in sheep, goats, Ixodes persulcatus, Haemaphysalis longicornis, Haemaphysalis qinghaiensis, and humans. Variant II was only found in Luoyang, Anyang, and Sanmengxia, of Henan province. To our knowledge, this is the first detection of this variant of A. capra in sheep and goat blood in China. Phylogenetic analysis based on groEL and msp4 genes showed that the Anaplasma sp. sequences clustered independently from A. capra and other Anaplasma species with high bootstrap values. We found A. capra DNA in sheep and goats in China, providing evidence that sheep and goats can be infected by A. capra. We also found that this zoonotic pathogen is widely distributed in China. This study provides information for assessing the public health risks for human anaplasmosis.

Dataset Information

Molecular detection and phylogenetic analyses of Anaplasma spp. in Haemaphysalis longicornis from goats in four provinces of China.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets