ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Infectious Agents and Disease
Molecular detection and genetic diversity of Anaplasma in ticks from southeastern and central Shanxi, China
Jia Cui 1
Dan Li 1
Fengping Wang 2
Huaxiang Rao 2
Hongbing Cheng 1
Liqing Wang 3
Juan Yu 1
1. School of Basic Medical Sciences, Changzhi Medical College, Changzhi, China
2. School of Public Health, Changzhi Medical College, Changzhi, China
3. Key Laboratory of Cellular Physiology, Ministry of Education, and the Department of Physiology, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
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Abstract
Anaplasma is an obligate intracellular gram-negative bacterium belonging to the family Anaplasmataceae and the order Rickettsiales, which is primarily transmitted by the bite of ixodid ticks. To investigate the prevalence risk and genetic diversity of Anaplasma in southeastern and central Shanxi, China, Ixodid ticks were sampled from sheep and cattle host animals in 11 different geographic regions during 2022-2024. These tick samples were then subjected to Anaplasma detection via nested PCR combined with partial 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The analysis revealed that 246 of 350 ticks were positive for Anaplasma. Among the survey areas, the prevalence rates of Anaplasma infection were 67.50% (27/40) in Wangjiazhuang Village, 74.19% (46/62) in Baitupo Village, 52.38% (11/21) in Daxigou Village, 66.67% (26/39) in Matian Town, 80.95% (34/42) in Zhuanghe Village, 75.00% (30/40) in Siyuan Village, 68.75% (11/21) in Xiwangyong Village, 70.83% (17/24) in Dongsitou Village, 76.19% (16/21) in Taling, 73.68% (14/19) in Houbu Village, 66.67% (14/21) in Shipan Village. The prevalence of Anaplasma is significantly higher in female ticks compared to males (89.73% vs 11.49%,χ² = 191.614, P < 0.001). Sequencing results revealed that this study identified four species of Anaplasma namely Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Anaplasma ovis, Anaplasma marginale and Anaplasma bovis. Meanwhile, four strains belonging to the order Rickettsiales were also detected and named "Uncultured Rickettsiaceae bacterium". Phylogenetic tree analysis examined the clustering and genetic relationships between the identified four Anaplasma species and other Anaplasma species available in the NCBI database. Haplotype phylogeographic dynamics provided an in-depth exploration of the subtle evolutionary differences among the same species of Anaplasma and revealed their evolutionary pathways. It was shown that the evolutionary paths of A. phagocytophilum, A. ovis, and A. bovis were more complex compared to that of A. marginale. The 110 A. phagocytophilum sequences obtained in this study were classified into 13 haplotypes, while the 36 A. ovis sequences were grouped into 10 haplotypes. A. bovis and A. marginale each exhibited a single haplotype, as only one sequence has been obtained for each of them. In conclusion, a high prevalence of Anaplasma infection was observed in ticks from southeastern and central Shanxi, China.
Summary
Keywords
16S rRNA, Anaplasma, China, Ixodid ticks, Phylogeographic analysis
Received
30 December 2025
Accepted
18 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Cui, Li, Wang, Rao, Cheng, Wang and Yu. 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: Liqing Wang; Juan Yu
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