Exploring the microbiomes of camel ticks to infer vector competence : insights from tissue-level symbiont-pathogen relationships

dc.contributor.authorKhogali, Rua
dc.contributor.authorBastos, Armanda D.S.
dc.contributor.authorGetange, Dennis
dc.contributor.authorBargul, Joel L.
dc.contributor.authorKalayou, Shewit
dc.contributor.authorOngeso, Nehemiah
dc.contributor.authorVerhoeven, Joost Theo Petra
dc.contributor.authorKabii, James
dc.contributor.authorNgiela, John
dc.contributor.authorMasiga, Daniel
dc.contributor.authorVillinger, Jandouwe
dc.date.accessioned2025-05-20T10:15:03Z
dc.date.available2025-05-20T10:15:03Z
dc.date.issued2025-02
dc.descriptionDATA AVAILABILITY : The datasets utilized in this study are available in online repositories. The names of the repositories and their respective accession numbers are provided as follows: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank under the BioProject accession: PRJNA1134173 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra/PRJNA1134173); SRX25265166 -SRX25265249 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra/PRJNA1134173), SRX25266559-SRX2526669 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra/PRJNA1134173).
dc.description.abstractTicks are blood-feeding ectoparasites that harbor diverse pathogens and endosymbionts. Their microbial communities vary based on tick species, stage, sex, geographical location, surrounding environment, and tissue type. Understanding tick microbiota at the tissue level is crucial for unraveling how microbiomes are distributed in tick tissues and influence pathogen transmission. We used V1-V2 16 S rRNA gene sequencing to analyze tissue-specific bacterial compositions (hemolymph, saliva, salivary glands, and midgut) of Amblyomma gemma, Rhipicephalus pulchellus, Hyalomma dromedarii, and Hyalomma rufipes ticks collected from camels in Marsabit County, northern Kenya. The V1-V2 region of the 16 S rRNA gene effectively differentiated 43 Rickettsia africae and 16 Rickettsia aeschlimannii tick samples from other rickettsial species, as well as Coxiella endosymbionts from Coxiella burnetii. In contrast, the V3-V4 region sequences of these species could not be clearly distinguished. Coxiella endosymbionts were most common in Am. gemma and Rh. pulchellus, while Francisella endosymbionts predominated in Hyalomma ticks; both were primarily localized in the salivary glands. High abundances of Coxiella endosymbionts, as well as Pseudomonas, were associated with the absence or low abundance of Rickettsia pathogens in both Am. gemma and Rh. pulchellus, suggesting competitive interactions between these microbes. Additionally, Proteus mirabilis, an opportunistic pathogen of the urinary tract in humans, was found predominantly in Hyalomma ticks, except for the salivary glands, which were most abundant with Francisella endosymbionts. Furthermore, we detected the Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, and Corynebacterium genera in all the tick tissues, supporting the hypothesis that these bacteria might circulate between camel blood and ticks. Saliva and hemolymph generally harbored more extracellular bacteria than the salivary glands and midgut. This study provides a new approach to unravel tick-endosymbiont-pathogen interactions by examining the tissue localization of tick-borne pathogens and symbionts in Am. gemma, Rh. pulchellus, Hy. dromedarii, and Hy. rufipes from camels in northern Kenya. Our findings establish a baseline for developing an understanding of the functional capacities of symbionts and for designing symbiont-based control strategies.
dc.description.departmentZoology and Entomology
dc.description.departmentVeterinary Tropical Diseases
dc.description.librarianhj2025
dc.description.sdgSDG-03: Good health and well-being
dc.description.sponsorshipEuropean Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under grant agreement No. 101000365 (PREPARE4VBD); the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida); the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC); the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR); the Government of Norway; the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ); and the Government of the Republic of Kenya. RK was supported by a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) through an icipe ARPPIS-DAAD scholarship and through a UP post-graduate bursary.
dc.description.urihttps://www.nature.com/srep
dc.identifier.citationKhogali, R., Bastos, A., Getange, D. et al. Exploring the microbiomes of camel ticks to infer vector competence: insights from tissue-level symbiont-pathogen relationships. Scientific Reports, 5574 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-81313-1.
dc.identifier.issn2045-2322 (online)
dc.identifier.other10.1038/s41598-024-81313-1
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/102440
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherScientific Reports
dc.rights© The Author(s) 2025. Open Access. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
dc.subjectTick tissues
dc.subjectAmblyomma gemma
dc.subjectRhipicephalus pulchellus
dc.subjectHyalomma dromedarii
dc.subjectHyalomma rufipes
dc.subjectEndosymbionts
dc.subjectRickettsia
dc.subjectProteus mirabilis
dc.subjectTick-borne pathogen (TBP)
dc.titleExploring the microbiomes of camel ticks to infer vector competence : insights from tissue-level symbiont-pathogen relationships
dc.typeArticle

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