ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Infectious Agents and Disease
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1589263
This article is part of the Research TopicZoonotic Diseases: Epidemiology, Multi-omics, and Host-pathogen Interactions Vol IIView all articles
Differential Impact of Spotted Fever Group Rickettsia and Anaplasmosis on Tick Microbial Ecology: Evidence from Multi-Species Comparative Microbiome Analysis
Provisionally accepted
Jin-qi Wang1
Tian Yu1
Hong-yu Qiu2
Sheng-wei Ji1Zhi-qiang Xu1Qi-chao Cui1Hai-feng Li1Wan-feng Liang1Shuai Feng2Chen-tao Fu2
Xu Gao1Zhen-zhen Han3Wan-nian Tian4Ji-xu Li5Shu-jiang Xue1*- 1College of Agriculture, Yanbian University, Yan Ji, China
- 2College of Animal Science and Technology, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, Daqing, Heilongjiang Province, China
- 3Animal Health and Epidemic Prevention Center, Huludao, China
- 4College of Animal Science, Jilin Agricultural Science and Technology College, Jilin, Jilin, China
- 5Yanbian Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Yanji, China
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Tick-borne diseases (TBDs) represent represent a challenge for public health, given their increasing incidence due to the effects of climate change and ecological shifts. The interplay between tick-borne pathogens and the host microbiome is an emerging area of research that may elucidate the mechanisms underlying disease susceptibility and severity. To investigate the diversity of microbial communities in ticks infected with vertebrate pathogens, we analyzed the microbiomes of 142 tick specimens. The presence of Rickettsia and Anaplasma pathogens in individual samples was determined via PCR. Our study aimed to elucidate the composition and variation of microbial communities associated with three tick species that are known vectors for various pathogens of both wildlife and humans. We employed high-throughput sequencing techniques to characterize the microbial diversity and employed statistical analyses to assess the correlation between the presence of specific pathogens and the overall microbial community structure. Pathogen screening revealed an overall positivity rate of 51.9% for Anaplasma and 44.6% for Spotted Fever Group Rickettsia (SFGR). Among the three tick species (Dermacentor silvarum, Haemaphysalis concinna, and Haemaphysalis japonica) analyzed, D. silvarum (the predominant species) exhibited the highest pathogen prevalence. The results indicate a significant variation in microbial diversity between the tick samples, with the presence of Anaplasma and SFGR associated with distinct shifts in the microbial community composition. These findings underscore the complex interactions between ticks and their microbial inhabitants, enriching our understanding of tick-borne diseases.
Keywords: Tick1, Rickettsia2, Anaplasmosis3, microbiota4, 16S rRNA gene5, microbiome analysis6
Received: 07 Mar 2025; Accepted: 22 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Yu, Qiu, Ji, Xu, Cui, Li, Liang, Feng, Fu, Gao, Han, Tian, Li and Xue. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Shu-jiang Xue, College of Agriculture, Yanbian University, Yan Ji, China
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