Comparative Microbiome Profiles of Sympatric Tick Species from the Far-Western United States
Comparative Microbiome Profiles of Sympatric Tick Species from the Far-Western United States
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DOI：
10.3390/insects10100353
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发表时间：
2019-10-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3
通讯作者：
Swei, Andrea
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Chicana, Betsabel;Couper, Lisa I.;Swei, Andrea
近年来，对蜱微生物组的组成和功能的了解已大大扩展。到目前为止，蜱微生物组研究主要集中在传播疾病的物种和生命阶段。在这项研究中，我们对美国远西部的六种蜱进行了广泛的现场采样，以比较检查同域蜱种的微生物组成：太平洋硬蜱、硬蜱、变异革蜱、西皮蜱、白纹蜱和血蜱。这些物种既代表了常见的疾病载体，又代表了很少遇到人类的物种，表现出一系列的宿主偏好和自然史。我们发现不同蜱种和生命阶段的微生物物种多样性和组成存在显着差异。所检查的大多数物种的微生物群主要由一些初级内共生体主导。在所有物种中，这些内共生体的相对丰度随着生命阶段的增加而增加，而物种丰富度和多样性随着发育而减少。只有一个物种，即 I. angustus，没有表现出单一优势微生物物种的存在，这表明该物种独特的生理学或其与周围环境的相互作用。专门针对少数宿主物种或栖息地范围的蜱物种表现出较低的微生物组多样性，这表明暴露于环境条件或宿主血粉多样性会影响蜱微生物组，进而可能影响病原体传播。这些发现揭示了蜱与其微生物群落之间的重要关联，并提高了我们对非病原微生物组在蜱生理学和病原体传播中的功能的理解。
Insight into the composition and function of the tick microbiome has expanded considerably in recent years. Thus far, tick microbiome studies have focused on species and life stages that are responsible for transmitting disease. In this study we conducted extensive field sampling of six tick species in the far-western United States to comparatively examine the microbial composition of sympatric tick species: Ixodes pacificus, Ixodesangustus, Dermacentor variabilis, Dermacentor occidentalis, Dermacentor albipictus, and Haemaphysalis leporispalustris. These species represent both common vectors of disease and species that rarely encounter humans, exhibiting a range of host preferences and natural history. We found significant differences in microbial species diversity and composition by tick species and life stage. The microbiome of most species examined were dominated by a few primary endosymbionts. Across all species, the relative abundance of these endosymbionts increased with life stage while species richness and diversity decreased with development. Only one species, I. angustus, did not show the presence of a single dominant microbial species indicating the unique physiology of this species or its interaction with the surrounding environment. Tick species that specialize in a small number of host species or habitat ranges exhibited lower microbiome diversity, suggesting that exposure to environmental conditions or host blood meal diversity can affect the tick microbiome which in turn may affect pathogen transmission. These findings reveal important associations between ticks and their microbial community and improve our understanding of the function of non-pathogenic microbiomes in tick physiology and pathogen transmission.