Tick infestation on birds in an urban Atlantic Forest fragment in north-eastern Brazil

Dantas‐Torres, Filipe; Braz, Anderson Rafael dos Santos; Sales, Kamila Gaudêncio da Silva; Sousa‐Paula, Lucas Christian de; Diniz, George Tadeu Nunes; Correia, Jozelia Maria Sousa

doi:10.1007/s10493-021-00660-0

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Ticks are ubiquitous arthropod species belonging to the Ixodida order. They are hematophagous obligate ectoparasites and can be found in a high variety of habitats, ranging from driest ( Foughali et al., 2021 ; Abdulsalam et al., 2022 ) to most humid ( Kim et al., 2018 ; Yang et al., 2020 ; Dantas-Torres et al., 2021 ). Ixodida are represented by two major families: Argasidae (soft ticks) and Ixodidae (hard ticks) ( Guglielmone et al., 2010 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What do we know about the microbiome of I. ricinus?

Hodosi

Kazimírová

Šoltýs

2022

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.

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I. ricinus is an obligate hematophagous parasitic arthropod that is responsible for the transmission of a wide range of zoonotic pathogens including spirochetes of the genus Borrelia, Rickettsia spp., C. burnetii, Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Francisella tularensis, which are part the tick´s microbiome. Most of the studies focus on “pathogens” and only very few elucidate the role of “non-pathogenic” symbiotic microorganisms in I. ricinus. While most of the members of the microbiome are leading an intracellular lifestyle, they are able to complement tick´s nutrition and stress response having a great impact on tick´s survival and transmission of pathogens. The composition of the tick´s microbiome is not consistent and can be tied to the environment, tick species, developmental stage, or specific organ or tissue. Ovarian tissue harbors a stable microbiome consisting mainly but not exclusively of endosymbiotic bacteria, while the microbiome of the digestive system is rather unstable, and together with salivary glands, is mostly comprised of pathogens. The most prevalent endosymbionts found in ticks are Rickettsia spp., Ricketsiella spp., Coxiella-like and Francisella-like endosymbionts, Spiroplasma spp. and Candidatus Midichloria spp. Since microorganisms can modify ticks’ behavior, such as mobility, feeding or saliva production, which results in increased survival rates, we aimed to elucidate the potential, tight relationship, and interaction between bacteria of the I. ricinus microbiome. Here we show that endosymbionts including Coxiella-like spp., can provide I. ricinus with different types of vitamin B (B2, B6, B7, B9) essential for eukaryotic organisms. Furthermore, we hypothesize that survival of Wolbachia spp., or the bacterial pathogen A. phagocytophilum can be supported by the tick itself since coinfection with symbiotic Spiroplasma ixodetis provides I. ricinus with complete metabolic pathway of folate biosynthesis necessary for DNA synthesis and cell division. Manipulation of tick´s endosymbiotic microbiome could present a perspective way of I. ricinus control and regulation of spread of emerging bacterial pathogens.

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