< em > Borrelia afzelii < /em > infection in the rodent host has dramatic effects on the bacterial microbiome of < em > Ixodes ricinus < /em > ticks

Appl Environ Microbiol. 2021 Jun 30:AEM0064121. doi: 10.1128/AEM.00641-21. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTThe microbiome of blood-sucking arthropods can shape their competence to acquire and maintain infections with vector-borne pathogens. We used a controlled study to investigate the interactions between Borrelia afzelii, which causes Lyme disease in Europe, and the bacterial microbiome of Ixodes ricinus, its primary tick vector. We applied a surface sterilization treatment to I. ricinus eggs to produce dysbiosed tick larvae that had a much lower bacterial abundance and a changed bacterial microbiome compared to the control larvae. Dysbiosed and control larvae were fed on B. afzelii-infected mice and uninfected control mice and the engorged larvae were left to molt into nymphs, which were tested for B. afzelii infection and their bacterial microbiome by 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Surprisingly, larval dysbiosis had no effect on the vector competence of I. ricinus for B. afzelii, as the nymphal infection prevalence and the nymphal spirochete load were the same between the dysbiosed group and the control group. The strong effect of egg surface sterilization on the tick bacterial microbiome largely disappeared once the larvae molted into nymphs. The most important determinant of the bacterial microbiome of I. ricinus nymphs was the B. afzelii infection status of the mouse on which the nymphs had fed as larvae. Nymphs that had taken their larval blood meal from an infected mous...

Source: Applied and Environmental Microbiology - June 30, 2021 Category: Microbiology Authors: Phineas T Hamilton Elodie Maluenda Anouk Sarr Alessandro Belli Georgia Hurry Olivier Duron Olivier Plantard Maarten J Voordouw Source Type: research