Bacterial Profiling Reveals Novel "Ca. Neoehrlichia", Ehrlichia, and Anaplasma Species in Australian Human-Biting Ticks.

ABSTRACT: In Australia, a conclusive aetiology of Lyme disease-like illness in human patients remains elusive, despite growing numbers of people presenting with symptoms attributed to tick bites. In the present study, we surveyed the microbial communities harboured by human-biting ticks from across Australia to identify bacteria that may contribute to this syndrome. Universal PCR primers were used to amplify the V1-2 hyper-variable region of bacterial 16S rRNA genes in DNA samples from individual Ixodes holocyclus (n = 279), Amblyomma triguttatum (n = 167), Haemaphysalis bancrofti (n = 7), and H. longicornis (n = 7) ticks. The 16S amplicons were sequenced on the Illumina MiSeq platform and analysed in USEARCH, QIIME, and BLAST to assign genus and species-level taxonomies. Nested PCR and Sanger seque

SUBMITTER: Gofton AW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4692421 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature