Molecular and Biological Characterization of a Novel Coxiella‐like Agent from Carios capensis

Abstract

The genus Coxiella is currently defined by a single monotypic species, Coxiella burnetii. Novel Coxiella spp. have been detected in ticks throughout the world. These bacteria have not been cultured or named, and their evolutionary relationships to C. burnetii are poorly known. A novel Coxiella-like agent was detected by PCR amplification and sequencing of DNA extracted from 64 pelican ticks, Carios capensis, from Devoux Bank, South Carolina, USA. PCR was used to amplify and characterize genes from the new bacterium. Sequences from some metabolic and housekeeping genes shared a 92-98% similarity to C. burnetii, but other genes such as the IS1111 transposon, com1, and 5S and 16S rRNA genes were not amplified by conventional PCR. Transovarial and transtadial transmission and environmental shedding of the agent were detected by PCR.

Systemic Coxiella-like Infection With Myocarditis and Hepatitis in an Eclectus Parrot (Eclectus roratus)

“…4 In addition, Coxiella spp have been demonstrated to be carried by more than 40 species of ticks. 8 Although no ticks were detected on the bird at the time of the postmortem examination, previous tick exposure cannot be ruled out.…”

Coxiella-like Endosymbionts

“…Recently, many Coxiella -like bacteria have been reported in ticks. Ticks infected with Coxiella -like bacteria include Amblyomma americanum Klyachko et al 2007 ;Clay et al 2008 ) , Carios capensis (Reeves et al 2005 ) , Haemaphysalis longicornis (Noda et al 1997 ;Lee et al 2004 ) , Ixodes ricinus (Schabereiter-Gurtner et al 2003 ) , I. woodi (Kurtti et al 2002 ) , Ornithodoros moubata (Noda et al 1997 ) , Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Noda et al 1997 ;Bernasconi et al 2002 ) , and R. turanicus (Bernasconi et al 2002 ) .…”

Molecular detection of Rickettsia, Coxiella and Rickettsiella DNA in three native Australian tick species

“…Several strains of C. burnetii exist, all recognized as a sole species and possessing the same unique genomic characteristics (Seshadri and Samuel 2005;Cutler et al 2006). Related species have been identified within ticks collected from birds (Reeves et al 2005), from the environment (Bernasconi et al 2002;Mediannikov et al 2003;Jasinskas et al 2007) and in association with high mortality in crustaceans (Tan and Owens 2000). The closest relatives to the genus Coxiella are members of Rickettsiella, which include arthropod pathogens (Frutos et al 1994;Roux et al 1997a;Kurtti et al 2002).…”