{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]],"date-time":"2026-08-25T06:30:56Z","timestamp":1787639456602,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"Oxford University Press (OUP)","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]],"date-time":"2026-08-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787616000000},"content-version":"am","delay-in-days":1,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Ticks, which are globally distributed, transmit a wide range of human and animal pathogens. Soft and hard ticks are two major tick families exhibiting distinct vector capacities and blood-feeding abilities. However, understanding the genetic basis of these differences is hindered by the scarcity of high-quality tick genomes, particularly for soft ticks. Here, we present high-quality genomes of two soft and two hard tick species of both evolutionary and medical importance, and compare the genomic characteristics of the two tick families. Compared with soft ticks, hard ticks exhibited faster genome evolution, characterized by larger genome sizes, higher rates of gene gain and loss, and a greater number of positively selected genes. Both tick families exhibited frequent positive selection across metabolism and organismal systems, sharing a core set of adaptive genes but undergoing refinement at different sites. Gene families underpinning various vector capacities, including those involved in cuticle structure, heme biosynthesis, egg waxing, and immune pathways, were identified. Additionally, we assembled the genomes of two novel Rickettsia endosymbionts from soft ticks, revealing high genomic divergence and lineage-specific adaptations to their hosts. These genomic resources provide fundamental insights into the genetic basis of tick biology and vector capacity, highlighting the divergent evolutionary strategies of blood-feeding arthropods shaped by their ecological niches.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1093\/gpbjnl\/qzag089","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]],"date-time":"2026-08-25T05:56:33Z","timestamp":1787637393000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Genomic Insights into Divergent Evolutionary Strategies and Vector Capacities of Ticks"],"prefix":"10.1093","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7599-0334","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Wenqiang","family":"Shi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Academy of Military Medical Sciences State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, , Beijing 100071,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0001-8616-0480","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jia-Jing","family":"Zheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Academy of Military Medical Sciences State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, , Beijing 100071,","place":["China"]},{"name":"Xiamen University School of Life Sciences, , Xiamen 361005,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-3259-8947","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yi-Fei","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shandong University Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, , Jinan 250012,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1857-9412","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hua","family":"Wei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shandong University Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, , Jinan 250012,","place":["China"]},{"name":"Peking University Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, , Beijing 100191,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6871-6975","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yi","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Academy of Military Medical Sciences State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, , Beijing 100071,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-5729-7041","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Li-Feng","family":"Du","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shandong University Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, , Jinan 250012,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4372-8619","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Di","family":"Tian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ningxia Medical University School of Public Health, , Yinchuan 750004,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1892-3623","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xiao-Ming","family":"Cui","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Academy of Military Medical Sciences State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, , Beijing 100071,","place":["China"]},{"name":"Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Research Unit of Discovery and Tracing of Natural Focus Diseases, , Beijing 100071,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0532-7064","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Na","family":"Jia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Academy of Military Medical Sciences State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, , Beijing 100071,","place":["China"]},{"name":"Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Research Unit of Discovery and Tracing of Natural Focus Diseases, , Beijing 100071,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5050-1987","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ming-Zhu","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shandong University Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, , Jinan 250012,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-0999-7394","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xiao-Yu","family":"Shi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Academy of Military Medical Sciences State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, , Beijing 100071,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4116-2984","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jin","family":"Luo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory for Animal Disease Control and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences , Lanzhou 730046,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-8557-1678","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Weifei","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Annoroad Gene Technology (Beijing) Co ., Ltd, Beijing 100177,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0006-1923-1492","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ning","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shandong University Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, , Jinan 250012,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-1475-9658","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bai-Hui","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shandong University Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, , Jinan 250012,","place":["China"]},{"name":"Beijing Chaoyang District Center for Disease Control and Prevention , Beijing 100021,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6541-9828","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Wan-Ying","family":"Gao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shandong University Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, , Jinan 250012,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0122-7525","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zhijun","family":"Yu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Hebei Normal University Hebei Key Laboratory of Animal Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Life Sciences, , Shijiazhuang 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250012,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-3643-4641","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ming-Xiang","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Zhongning County Center for Disease Prevention and Control , Zhongwei 755100,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-4479-016X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zhongsi","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Annoroad Gene Technology (Beijing) Co ., Ltd, Beijing 100177,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7988-3787","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zhi-Hong","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ningxia Medical University School of Public Health, , Yinchuan 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730046,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5090-2251","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Wu-Chun","family":"Cao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Academy of Military Medical Sciences State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, , Beijing 100071,","place":["China"]},{"name":"Shandong University Institute of EcoHealth, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, , Jinan 250012,","place":["China"]},{"name":"Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Research Unit of Discovery and Tracing of Natural Focus Diseases, , Beijing 100071,","place":["China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"286","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,24]]},"container-title":["Genomics, Proteomics &amp; 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