Microbiome analysis of Ixodes scapularis ticks from New York and Connecticut

Sharing the Ride: Ixodes scapularis Symbionts and Their Interactions

“…However, we have excluded common environmental microbes demonstrated to be artifacts from contaminated reagents, such as Delftia, Comamonas, Acidovorax, and others (Salter et al, 2014). Sequence-based studies indicate a larger variety of bacterial residents may temporarily survive in this tick species (Benson et al, 2004;Narasimhan et al, 2014;Rynkiewicz et al, 2015;Van Treuren et al, 2015;Zolnik et al, 2016Zolnik et al, , 2018Abraham et al, 2017;Cross et al, 2018;Landesman et al, 2019;Tokarz et al, 2019), but other reports suggest that many of the detectable bacteria from such studies may have been of environmental origin or introduced from contaminated reagents (Martin and Schmidtmann, 1998;Salter et al, 2014;Ross et al, 2018;Zolnik et al, 2018).…”

“…Further, sequencing errors and limited database sequences has led to the misidentification of at least one species in a microbiome study (Tijsse-Klasen et al, 2010). Likewise, Tokarz et al disputed the identification of Bartonella as a component of the I. scapularis microbiome, attributing the mistake to a lack of specificity in primer design (Tokarz et al, 2019). Another factor that can inflate bacterial diversity estimates is the method of tick sterilization employed prior to sequencing, where ethanol-based surface sterilization of Amblyomma cajennense ticks correlated with reports of higher internal bacterial diversity than studies that used bleach-based methods, likely due to cuticular contaminants that were not removed by ethanol (Binetruy et al, 2019).…”

“…R. buchneri is not known to infect vertebrate hosts but is an obligate symbiont of I. scapularis and transmitted transovarially from the mother to the progeny. All life stages of the tick can harbor R. buchneri, though it can reach exclusive levels in the adult Burgdorfer et al, 1982;Steiner et al, 2008;Aliota et al, 2014;Tokarz et al, 2019 Borrelia Benson et al, 2004;Narasimhan et al, 2014Narasimhan et al, , 2017Zolnik et al, 2016Zolnik et al, , 2018Abraham et al, 2017;Ross et al, 2018;Landesman et al, 2019;Thapa et al, 2019 Sphingomonadaceae p 5% (L, N, A) Benson et al, 2004;Zolnik et al, 2016Zolnik et al, , 2018Abraham et al, 2017;Ross et al, 2018;Landesman et al, 2019;Thapa et al, 2019 Staphylococcus spp. p 2% (L, N, A) Narasimhan et al, 2014Narasimhan et al, , 2017Abraham et al, 2017;Zolnik et al, 2018;Thapa et al, 2019 Streptococcus spp.…”

Characterization of a Monanema nematode in Ixodes scapularis

“…In 2014, 12S rRNA gene sequences homologous to sequences from larial nematodes were detected in I. scapularis ticks in Connecticut [3]. Subsequent metagenomic analyses of I. scapularis from Wisconsin and our study from New York and Connecticut also reported Filarioidea sequences [4,5]. Because larial nematodes are implicated in veterinary and human disease and there is a high degree of human contact with I. scapularis, we sought to genetically characterize this nematode (tentatively named Ixodes scapularis-associated nematode, or ISN) and determine the level of human exposure.…”

“…We determined that ISN along with the nematode found in A. americanum represent the rst species of the genus Monanema uncovered outside of Africa. Recent insights into the I. scapularis microbiome have demonstrated that the prevalence of ISN is comparable to the prevalence of some I. scapularis-vectored pathogens [5,10]. In addition, its presence in ticks from the Mid-West and eastern USA suggest that ISN may have a geographical distribution throughout the range of I. scapularis.…”