Journal
ISME JOURNAL
Volume 7, Issue 5, Pages 1003-1015Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/ismej.2012.171
Keywords
BLSOMs; emerging diseases; metagenomics; microbiomes; symbionts; ticks
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Funding
- Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
- Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT)
- program of Funding Research Center for Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Disease, MEXT
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [23710242] Funding Source: KAKEN
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Ticks transmit a variety of viral, bacterial and protozoal pathogens, which are often zoonotic. The aim of this study was to identify diverse tick microbiomes, which may contain as-yet unidentified pathogens, using a metagenomic approach. DNA prepared from bacteria/archaea-enriched fractions obtained from seven tick species, namely Amblyomma testudinarium, Amblyomma variegatum, Haemaphysalis formosensis, Haemaphysalis longicornis, Ixodes ovatus, Ixodes persulcatus and Ixodes ricinus, was subjected to pyrosequencing after whole-genome amplification. The resulting sequence reads were phylotyped using a Batch Learning Self-Organizing Map (BLSOM) program, which allowed phylogenetic estimation based on similarity of oligonucleotide frequencies, and functional annotation by BLASTX similarity searches. In addition to bacteria previously associated with human/animal diseases, such as Anaplasma, Bartonella, Borrelia, Ehrlichia, Francisella and Rickettsia, BLSOM analysis detected microorganisms belonging to the phylum Chlamydiae in some tick species. This was confirmed by pan-Chlamydia PCR and sequencing analysis. Gene sequences associated with bacterial pathogenesis were also identified, some of which were suspected to originate from horizontal gene transfer. These efforts to construct a database of tick microbes may lead to the ability to predict emerging tick-borne diseases. Furthermore, a comprehensive understanding of tick microbiomes will be useful for understanding tick biology, including vector competency and interactions with pathogens and symbionts. The ISME Journal (2013) 7, 1003-1015; doi:10.1038/ismej.2012.171; published online 10 January 2013
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