Viral Diversity of Tick Species Parasitizing Cattle and Dogs in Trinidad and Tobago

Sameroff, Stephen; Tokarz, Rafal; Charles, Roxanne A.; Jain, Komal; Oleynik, Alexandra; Che, Xiaoyu; Georges, Karla; Carrington, Christine V. F.; Lipkin, W. Ian; Oura, C.A.L.

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-46914-1

“…Karukera tick virus displayed quite low levels of sequence identity with its closest relative Brown dog tick mivirus 1 (Table 3), sharing only 82%, 77% and 62% amino acid identities with Brown dog tick mivirus 1 in the RdRP, GP and NP genes, respectively. Brown dog tick mivirus 1 was previously identified in Rhipicephalus sanguineus ticks from Trinidad and Tobago [23]. In addition, KTV displayed lower identity with the Changping tick virus 2 prototype strain, previously reported in Dermacentor spp.…”

Section: Viruses Belonging To the Chuviridae Familymentioning

confidence: 79%

“…seem to harbor lower viral diversity compared to other tick species, including Rhipicephalus, Ixodes and Dermacentor spp. [17,23]. Bio-ecological parameters may influence virome diversity, such as the tick life cycle or host range [24,[61][62][63][64].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

RNA Viruses of Amblyomma variegatum and Rhipicephalus microplus and Cattle Susceptibility in the French Antilles

Gondard

¹

,

Temmam

²

,

Devillers

³

et al. 2020

Viruses

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Ticks transmit a wide variety of pathogens including bacteria, parasites and viruses. Over the last decade, numerous novel viruses have been described in arthropods, including ticks, and their characterization has provided new insights into RNA virus diversity and evolution. However, little is known about their ability to infect vertebrates. As very few studies have described the diversity of viruses present in ticks from the Caribbean, we implemented an RNA-sequencing approach on Amblyomma variegatum and Rhipicephalus microplus ticks collected from cattle in Guadeloupe and Martinique. Among the viral communities infecting Caribbean ticks, we selected four viruses belonging to the Chuviridae, Phenuiviridae and Flaviviridae families for further characterization and designing antibody screening tests. While viral prevalence in individual tick samples revealed high infection rates, suggesting a high level of exposure of Caribbean cattle to these viruses, no seropositive animals were detected. These results suggest that the Chuviridae- and Phenuiviridae-related viruses identified in the present study are more likely tick endosymbionts, raising the question of the epidemiological significance of their occurrence in ticks, especially regarding their possible impact on tick biology and vector capacity. The characterization of these viruses might open the door to new ways of preventing and controlling tick-borne diseases.

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“…Furthermore, the age (stage) and sex distribution of ticks and season of collection in the two studies may have differed. These differences as well as geographic variation could explain the variability in the results (24).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

First report of Lihan Tick virus (Phlebovirus, Phenuiviridae) in ticks, Colombia

López¹,

Miranda²,

Mattar³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background: Tick-borne Phleboviruses (TBPVs) comprise human and animal viruses that can cause a variety of clinical syndromes ranging from self-limiting febrile illness to fatal haemorrhagic fevers.Objective: Detect Phlebovirus in ticks collected from domestic animals in Córdoba, Colombia. Methods: We collected 2,365 ticks from domestic animals in three municipalities of the Department of Cordoba, Colombia in 2016. Ticks were identified and pooled by species for RNA extraction. A nested real-time PCR with specific primers for Phlebovirus and a probe for Heartland virus (HRTV) were performed. Also, a conventional nested PCR, with the same specific primers was used to detect other Phleboviruses, with positive reactions indicated by an amplified cDNA fragment of approximately 244 bp determined by gel electrophoresis. These bands were gel-purified and sequenced by the Sanger method. Results: Using real-time RT-PCR, no positive results for HRTV were found. However, using conventional nested PCR 2.2% (5/229 pools) yielded a product of 244 bp. One positive sample was detected in a pool of Dermacentor nitens ticks collected from a horse, and the four remaining positive pools were from Rhipicephalus microplus collected from cattle. The five positive nucleotide sequences were identical to each other, with identities of 93% to 96% compared to a section of the L-segment of Lihan Tick virus, a Phlebovirus originally detected in R. microplus ticks in China. The strongest identity (96%-99%) was with Lihan Tick virus detected in R. microplus ticks from Brazil.Conclusions: This is the first report of viral detection in ticks in Colombia. We detected a Colombian strain of Lihan Tick virus. We recommend investigating possible disease associations with this tickborne virus in Colombia.

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“…Regarding ticks, virome high-throughput sequencing has been performed in various species from Asia [7,[13][14][15], North America [16][17][18], South America [19,20], Europe [8,9], Africa [21], Australia [22] and Trinidad and Tobago [23], all revealing extensive diversity in RNA viruses [24]. Characterizing these new viruses offers new perspectives to better understand viral origins and evolution, for which arthropods seem to play a key role, for example by allowing interactions and genetic exchanges within their "virosphere" [7,14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the Caribbean, despite the importance of tick-borne diseases in animal health management, very little research has been carried out on tick-borne viruses [23,28]. Cases of African swine fever (ASFV, Asfarviridae) were described in Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic in the 1970s, and viruses have been described in rare reports concerning ticks parasitizing seabirds, such as Estero real orthobunyavirus (Peribunyaviridae), or Hughes and Soldado nairoviruses (Nairoviridae) [29][30][31][32][33][34].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

RNA viruses of Amblyomma variegatum and Rhipicephalus microplus and Cattle Susceptibility in the French Antilles

Gondard¹,

Temmam²,

Devillers³

et al. 2019

Preprint

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ticks transmit a wide variety of pathogens including bacteria, parasites and viruses. Over the last decade, numerous novel viruses have been described in arthropods, including ticks, and their characterization has provided new insights into RNA virus diversity and evolution. However, little is known about their ability to infect vertebrates. As very few studies have described the diversity of viruses present in ticks from the Caribbean, we implemented an RNA-sequencing approach on Amblyomma variegatum and Rhipicephalus microplus ticks collected from cattle in Guadeloupe and Martinique. Among the viral communities infecting Caribbean ticks, we selected four viruses belonging to the Chuviridae, Phenuiviridae and Flaviviridae families for further characterization and designing antibody screening tests. While viral prevalence in individual tick samples revealed high infection rates, suggesting a high level of exposure of Caribbean cattle to these viruses, no seropositive animals were detected. These results suggest that the Chuviridae- and Phenuiviridae-related viruses identified in the present study are more likely tick endosymbionts, raising the question of the epidemiological significance of their occurrence in ticks, especially regarding their possible impact on tick biology and vector capacity. The characterization of these viruses might open the door to new ways of preventing and controlling tick-borne diseases.

show abstract

Viral Diversity of Tick Species Parasitizing Cattle and Dogs in Trinidad and Tobago

Cited by 72 publications

References 47 publications

RNA Viruses of Amblyomma variegatum and Rhipicephalus microplus and Cattle Susceptibility in the French Antilles

RNA Viruses of Amblyomma variegatum and Rhipicephalus microplus and Cattle Susceptibility in the French Antilles

First report of Lihan Tick virus (Phlebovirus, Phenuiviridae) in ticks, Colombia

RNA viruses of Amblyomma variegatum and Rhipicephalus microplus and Cattle Susceptibility in the French Antilles

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