The microbiota of hematophagous ectoparasites collected from migratory birds

Arthropod vectors are responsible for the transmission of human pathogens worldwide. Several arthropod species are bird ectoparasites, however, no study to date has characterized their microbiota as a whole. We sampled hematophagous ectoparasites that feed on migratory birds and performed 16S rRNA g...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2018-08, Vol.13 (8), p.e0202270-e0202270
Main Authors: Cerutti, Francesco, Modesto, Paola, Rizzo, Francesca, Cravero, Alessandra, Jurman, Irena, Costa, Stefano, Giammarino, Mauro, Mandola, Maria Lucia, Goria, Mariella, Radovic, Slobodanka, Cattonaro, Federica, Acutis, Pier Luigi, Peletto, Simone
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anaplasma
Arachnids
Arsenophonus
Arthropoda
Arthropods
Bacteria
Bartonella
Biology and Life Sciences
Bird migration
Birds
Borrelia
Candidatus Midichloria
Communities
Concurrent infection
Control
Coxiellaceae
Disease transmission
Ectoparasites
Endosymbionts
Francisella
Genera
Genetic aspects
Hippoboscidae
Medicine and Health Sciences
Microbiota
Microbiota (Symbiotic organisms)
Microorganisms
Midichloriaceae
Migratory birds
Molecular diagnostic techniques
Mosquitoes
Parasites
Public health
Ribosomal RNA
Rickettsia
rRNA 16S
Species
Ticks
Tropical diseases
Vectors
Vectors (Biology)
Viruses
West Nile virus
Wolbachia
Zika virus
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Summary:Arthropod vectors are responsible for the transmission of human pathogens worldwide. Several arthropod species are bird ectoparasites, however, no study to date has characterized their microbiota as a whole. We sampled hematophagous ectoparasites that feed on migratory birds and performed 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding to characterize their microbial community. A total of 194 ectoparasites were collected from 115 avian hosts and classified into three groups: a) Hippoboscidae diptera; b) ticks; c) other arthropods. Metabarcoding showed that endosymbionts were the most abundant genera of the microbial community, including Wolbachia for Hippoboscidae diptera, Candidatus Midichloria for ticks, Wolbachia and Arsenophonus for the other arthropod group. Genera including pathogenic species were: Rickettsia, Borrelia, Coxiella, Francisella, Bartonella, Anaplasma. Co-infection with Borrelia-Rickettsia and Anaplasma-Rickettsia was also observed. A global overview of the microbiota of ectoparasites sampled from migratory birds was obtained with the use of 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding. A novel finding is the first identification of Rickettsia in the common swift louse fly, Crataerina pallida. Given their possible interaction with pathogenic viruses and bacteria, the presence of endosymbionts in arthropods merits attention. Finally, molecular characterization of genera, including both pathogenic and symbiont species, plays a pivotal role in the design of targeted molecular diagnostics.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0202270