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Ixodes scapularis does not harbor a stable midgut microbiome

View ORCID ProfileBenjamin D. Ross, Beth Hayes, Matthew C. Radey, Xia Lee, Tanya Josek, Jenna Bjork, David Neitzel, Susan Paskewitz, Seemay Chou, Joseph D. Mougous
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/198267
Benjamin D. Ross
1Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
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  • ORCID record for Benjamin D. Ross
Beth Hayes
2Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
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Matthew C. Radey
1Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
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Xia Lee
3Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA
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Tanya Josek
4Department of Entomology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
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Jenna Bjork
5Vectorborne Diseases Unit, Minnesota Department of Health, St. Paul, MN 55164, USA
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David Neitzel
5Vectorborne Diseases Unit, Minnesota Department of Health, St. Paul, MN 55164, USA
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Susan Paskewitz
3Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA
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Seemay Chou
2Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
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Joseph D. Mougous
1Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
6Howard Hughes Medical Institute, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
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Abstract

Hard ticks of the order Ixodidae serve as vectors for numerous human pathogens, including the causative agent of Lyme Disease Borrelia burgdorferi. Tick-associated microbes can influence pathogen colonization, offering the potential to inhibit disease transmission through engineering of the tick microbiota. Here, we investigate whether B. burgdorferi encounters abundant bacteria within the midgut of wild adult Ixodes scapularis, its primary vector. Through the use of controlled sequencing methods and confocal microscopy, we find that the majority of field-collected adult I. scapularis harbor limited internal microbial communities that are dominated by endosymbionts. A minority of I. scapularis ticks harbor abundant midgut bacteria and lack B. burgdorferi. We find that the lack of a stable resident midgut microbiota is not restricted to I. scapularis since extension of our studies to I. pacificus, Amblyomma maculatum, and Dermacentor spp showed similar patterns. Finally, bioinformatic examination of the B. burgdorferi genome revealed the absence of genes encoding known interbacterial interaction pathways, a feature unique to the Borrelia genus within the phylum Spirochaetes. Our results suggest that reduced selective pressure from limited microbial populations within ticks may have facilitated the evolutionary loss of genes encoding interbacterial competition pathways from Borrelia.

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.
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Posted October 04, 2017.
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Ixodes scapularis does not harbor a stable midgut microbiome
Benjamin D. Ross, Beth Hayes, Matthew C. Radey, Xia Lee, Tanya Josek, Jenna Bjork, David Neitzel, Susan Paskewitz, Seemay Chou, Joseph D. Mougous
bioRxiv 198267; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/198267
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Ixodes scapularis does not harbor a stable midgut microbiome
Benjamin D. Ross, Beth Hayes, Matthew C. Radey, Xia Lee, Tanya Josek, Jenna Bjork, David Neitzel, Susan Paskewitz, Seemay Chou, Joseph D. Mougous
bioRxiv 198267; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/198267

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