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Coxiella Symbionts in the Cayenne Tick Amblyomma cajennense

  • Invertebrate Microbiology
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Abstract

Members of the Coxiella genus are intracellular bacteria that can infect a variety of animals including humans. A symbiotic Coxiella was recently described in Amblyomma americanum ticks in the Northern Hemisphere with no further investigations of other Amblyomma species in other geographic regions. These ixodid ticks represent a group of important vectors for human infectious agents. In the present work, we have demonstrated that symbiotic Coxiella (SCox) are widespread, occurring in South America and infecting 100% of all life stages and eggs of the Cayenne ticks Amblyomma cajennense from Brazil and the USA. Using light microscopy, in situ hybridization, and PCR, we demonstrated SCox in salivary glands, ovaries, and the intestines of A. cajennense. These symbionts are vertically and transtadially transmitted in laboratory reared A. cajennense, and quantitative PCR analyses indicate that SCox are more abundant in adult female ticks, reaching values corresponding to an 11×, 38×, and 200× increase in SCox 16S rRNA gene copy number in unfed females, compared to unfed nymphs, larvae, and eggs, respectively. Phylogenetic analyses showed distinct SCox subpopulations in the USA and Brazil and demonstrated that SCox bacteria do not group with pathogenic Coxiella burnetii.

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Acknowledgments

Erik Machado-Ferreira’s graduate fellowship was supported by the Brazilian federal agency CAPES and by the CDC. This is part of Erik Machado-Ferreira’s PhD thesis work. The authors would like to thank to Mr. Manoel Itamar do Nascimento for tick sampling and Ms. Maria de Fátima S. Cardoso, Mr. Luiz F. P. Frade, and Mr. Sílvio P. Nascimento for their excellent technical assistance. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Robert Massung for his constructive comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Genética Molecular de Eucariontes e Simbiontes, Dept. Genética, Inst. Biologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, CEP 21944-970, Brazil

    Erik Machado-Ferreira & Carlos A. G. Soares

  2. Ilha do Fundão, CCS, Bloco A, Lab. A2-120, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Erik Machado-Ferreira & Carlos A. G. Soares

  3. Division of Vector Borne Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, CO, 80521, USA

    Gabrielle Dietrich, Andrias Hojgaard, Michael Levin, Joseph Piesman & Nordin S. Zeidner

Authors
  1. Erik Machado-Ferreira
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  2. Gabrielle Dietrich
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  3. Andrias Hojgaard
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  4. Michael Levin
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  5. Joseph Piesman
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  6. Nordin S. Zeidner
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  7. Carlos A. G. Soares
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carlos A. G. Soares.

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Machado-Ferreira, E., Dietrich, G., Hojgaard, A. et al. Coxiella Symbionts in the Cayenne Tick Amblyomma cajennense . Microb Ecol 62, 134–142 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-011-9868-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-011-9868-x

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