High-throughput sequencing based analysis on diversity of pathogens carried by ticks in Yuyao, Zhejiang

ObjectiveTo investigate the composition and diversity of tick-borne pathogens in Yuyao, Zhejiang.

MethodsThe collected ticks were classified morphologically, and then the highly variable V3–V4 regions of bacterial 16S rDNA gene carried by ticks were sequenced by high throughput sequencing, and their biological information were analyzed.

ResultsA total of 481 ticks were detected, which were Haemaphysalis longicornis, Rhipicephalus sanguineus and Ixodes sinensis, respectively. The predominant population was H. longicornis, accounting for 94.18%. The average effective sequence reads of 21 groups of ticks was 55 753. The average length of the sequence was 457.82 bp, and the average content of G＋C was 52.07%. A total of 2 104 operational taxonomic units (OTU) were generated. The dilution curve tended to be smooth, and the coverage of the sample library was more than 99%. The results of colony composition showed that a total of 9 phylum in 77 genus were detected, and the top three were Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Cyanobacteria. Among them, the abundance of Firmicutes was highest, and it has become the predominant flora of ticks. Five kinds of zoonotic bacteria were also found in the microorganisms carried by ticks, which were Staphylococcus, Acinetobacter, Rickettsia, Pseudomonas and Streptococcus. Among them, Staphylococcus was the main species with the highest abundance (98.76%).

ConclusionThe microbial community information carried by ticks can be analyzed comprehensively and accurately by high-throughput sequencing, providing evidences for the prevention and control of tick-borne infectious diseases, new animal diseases and the establishment of comprehensive surveillance platform.