{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,19]],"date-time":"2026-02-19T02:04:50Z","timestamp":1771466690769,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,6]],"date-time":"2022-12-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1670284800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000060","name":"National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["R01AI130116"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R01AI130116"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000060","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"UTK Start-up funds"},{"name":"UTK Start-up funds"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Bacterial endosymbionts are abundantly found in both hard and soft ticks. <jats:italic>Occidentia massiliensis<\/jats:italic>, a rickettsial endosymbiont, was first identified in the soft tick <jats:italic>Ornithodoros sonrai<\/jats:italic> collected from Senegal and later was identified in a hard tick <jats:italic>Africaniella transversale<\/jats:italic>. In this study, we noted the presence of <jats:italic>Occidentia<\/jats:italic> species, designated as <jats:italic>Occidentia<\/jats:italic>-like species, in a soft tick <jats:italic>O<\/jats:italic>. <jats:italic>turicata americanus<\/jats:italic>. Sequencing and phylogenetic analyses of the two genetic markers, 16S rRNA and <jats:italic>groEL<\/jats:italic> confirmed the presence of <jats:italic>Occidentia<\/jats:italic>-like species in <jats:italic>O<\/jats:italic>. <jats:italic>turicata americanus<\/jats:italic> ticks. The <jats:italic>Occidentia<\/jats:italic>-like species was noted to be present in all developmental stages of <jats:italic>O<\/jats:italic>. <jats:italic>turicata americanus<\/jats:italic> and in different tick tissues including ovaries, synganglion, guts and salivary gland. The levels of <jats:italic>Occidentia<\/jats:italic>-like species 16S rRNA transcripts were noted to be significantly higher in ovaries than in a gut tissue. In addition, <jats:italic>Occidentia<\/jats:italic>-like species <jats:italic>groEL<\/jats:italic> expression was noted to be significantly higher in tick synganglion than in ovaries and gut tissues. Furthermore, levels of <jats:italic>Occidentia<\/jats:italic>-like species 16S rRNA transcripts increased significantly upon <jats:italic>O<\/jats:italic>. <jats:italic>turicata americanus<\/jats:italic> blood feeding. Taken together, our study not only shows that <jats:italic>Occidentia<\/jats:italic>-like species is present in <jats:italic>O<\/jats:italic>. <jats:italic>turicata americanus<\/jats:italic> but also suggests that this bacterium may play a role in tick-bacteria interactions.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0278582","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,6]],"date-time":"2022-12-06T18:58:44Z","timestamp":1670353124000},"page":"e0278582","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Identification of a rickettsial endosymbiont in a soft tick Ornithodoros turicata americanus"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Lichao","family":"Liu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Daniel 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