Temporal changes in the bacterial microbiome of the salivary gland and midgut tissues of Rhipicephalus sanguineus (s.l.) ticks in South Africa.

ABSTRACT: Tick-borne bacterial pathogens from animals play a significant role in the (re)emergence of human diseases. Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato, a globally prevalent tick, predominantly parasitises domestic dogs but can also feed on humans. We characterised temporal changes in the bacterial microbiome of the midgut and salivary gland tissues of R. sanguineus s.l. ticks and analysed their potential as reservoirs for pathogenic bacteria. A 16 S microbiome and amplicon sequence variant (ASV) approach was used to study the bacteria present in the tissues of R. sanguineus s.l. ticks collected from dogs in Hluvukani, a village in a rural community in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, South Africa, in 2016, 2017 and 2019. Post processing, we obtained 43,161 total sequence reads which were clustered into

SUBMITTER: Ackermann RE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12092631 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature