{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,8]],"date-time":"2026-07-08T18:58:39Z","timestamp":1783537119712,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":77,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,8]],"date-time":"2026-07-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1783468800000},"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":["1R03AI166406-01"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["1R03AI166406-01"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000060","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100006751","name":"U.S. Army","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["W911QY1910003"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["W911QY1910003"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100006751","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100006751","name":"U.S. Army","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["E911SR2210005"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["E911SR2210005"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100006751","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Chiggers (larval Trombiculid mites) serve as vectors for\n                    <jats:italic>Orientia<\/jats:italic>\n                    species that cause scrub typhus, a potentially serious illness in humans with a broadening global distribution. To date, there is limited research on the chigger microbiome in the United States (US) compared to some other parts of the world. Investigating chigger bacterial communities is essential for understanding the potential role they play in pathogen transmission dynamics within these arthropods. This study investigated the bacterial communities of free-living chiggers collected from sites across the three ecoregions in North Carolina using 16S rDNA gene targeted next-generation sequencing. Molecular identification of the chigger revealed three species:\n                    <jats:italic>Eutrombicula splendens<\/jats:italic>\n                    ,\n                    <jats:italic>Eutrombicula tinami<\/jats:italic>\n                    , and\n                    <jats:italic>Pseudoschoengastia<\/jats:italic>\n                    sp. All three trombiculid mite species occurred at least once in the Mountains and Piedmont, except for\n                    <jats:italic>E. tinami<\/jats:italic>\n                    , which was absent from the Coastal Plain ecoregion. Microbiome analysis revealed significant differences in alpha and beta diversity among the collection sites for\n                    <jats:italic>E. splendens<\/jats:italic>\n                    . No significant differences in overall microbiome diversity were observed between\n                    <jats:italic>E. splendens<\/jats:italic>\n                    and\n                    <jats:italic>Pseudoschoengastia<\/jats:italic>\n                    sp., the two dominant chigger species. However, the microbiome of\n                    <jats:italic>E. splendens<\/jats:italic>\n                    alone exhibited significant differences in both Shannon diversity and beta diversity between\n                    <jats:italic>Orientia<\/jats:italic>\n                    -infected and uninfected individuals. Within\n                    <jats:italic>E. splendens<\/jats:italic>\n                    , genera like\n                    <jats:italic>Brevibacillus<\/jats:italic>\n                    and\n                    <jats:italic>Telluria<\/jats:italic>\n                    were more abundant in\n                    <jats:italic>Orientia<\/jats:italic>\n                    -positive chiggers, while\n                    <jats:italic>Methylobacterium<\/jats:italic>\n                    was more abundant in\n                    <jats:italic>Orientia<\/jats:italic>\n                    -negative chiggers. We also found potentially pathogenic bacterial genera, including\n                    <jats:italic>Rickettsia<\/jats:italic>\n                    ,\n                    <jats:italic>Listeria<\/jats:italic>\n                    ,\n                    <jats:italic>Legionella<\/jats:italic>\n                    ,\n                    <jats:italic>Staphylococcus<\/jats:italic>\n                    , and\n                    <jats:italic>Streptococcus<\/jats:italic>\n                    sequences. These findings suggest that geography and\n                    <jats:italic>Orientia<\/jats:italic>\n                    infection influence chigger-associated bacterial communities, potentially affecting their vector competence.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0353174","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,8]],"date-time":"2026-07-08T17:40:09Z","timestamp":1783532409000},"page":"e0353174","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Geographic and Orientia infection status influence on the bacterial microbiome of free-living chiggers in North Carolina, USA"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"21","author":[{"given":"Kaiying","family":"Chen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nicholas V.","family":"Travanty","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1801-3806","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Reuben A.","family":"Garshong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gideon","family":"Wasserberg","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Charles S.","family":"Apperson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"R. Michael","family":"Roe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0700-4472","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Loganathan","family":"Ponnusamy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,8]]},"reference":[{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0353174.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1243","DOI":"10.11646\/zootaxa.4967.1.1","article-title":"Annotated world checklist of the Trombiculidae and Leeuwenhoekiidae (1758\u20132021) (Acari: Trombiculoidea), with notes on nomenclature, taxonomy, and distribution","volume":"4967","author":"DH Nielsen","year":"2021","journal-title":"Zootaxa"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0353174.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"258","DOI":"10.1093\/jmedent\/3.3-4.258","article-title":"A new species of trombiculid mite infesting scorpions in Thailand (Acarina, Trombiculidae)","volume":"3","author":"P Lakshana","year":"1966","journal-title":"J Med Entomol"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0353174.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"18","DOI":"10.1186\/s42523-019-0019-x","article-title":"Ecological and microbiological diversity of chigger mites, including vectors of scrub typhus, on small mammals across stratified habitats in Thailand","volume":"1","author":"K Chaisiri","year":"2019","journal-title":"Anim Microbiome"},{"issue":"10","key":"pone.0353174.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1862","DOI":"10.1093\/cid\/ciab748","article-title":"Novel vector of scrub typhus in sub-Antarctic Chile: evidence from human exposure","volume":"74","author":"T Weitzel","year":"2022","journal-title":"Clin Infect Dis"},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0353174.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"429","DOI":"10.1097\/00001432-200310000-00009","article-title":"Scrub typhus and tropical rickettsioses","volume":"16","author":"G Watt","year":"2003","journal-title":"Curr Opin Infect Dis"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0353174.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"92","DOI":"10.4103\/0019-557X.85239","article-title":"Emergence of Schoengastiella ligula as the vector of scrub typhus outbreak in Darjeeling: has Leptotrombidium deliense been replaced?","volume":"55","author":"R Tilak","year":"2011","journal-title":"Indian J Public Health"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0353174.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.11646\/zootaxa.3964.1.1","article-title":"A review of Chilean chiggers (Acari: Trombiculidae), with the description of a new genus and ten new species","volume":"3964","author":"AA Stekolnikov","year":"2015","journal-title":"Zootaxa"},{"issue":"7","key":"pone.0353174.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"504","DOI":"10.3390\/insects15070504","article-title":"The distribution and host-association of the vector chigger species Leptotrombidium imphalum in Southwest China","volume":"15","author":"Q-Y Liu","year":"2024","journal-title":"Insects"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0353174.ref009","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pntd.0007619","article-title":"Identification of trombiculid mites (Acari: Trombiculidae) on rodents from Chilo\u00e9 Island and molecular evidence of infection with Orientia species","volume":"14","author":"G Acosta-Jamett","year":"2020","journal-title":"PLoS Negl Trop Dis"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0353174.ref010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"104","DOI":"10.1590\/s1984-29612016088","article-title":"Trombiculiasis in domestic goats and humans in the state of Maranh\u00e3o, Brazil","volume":"26","author":"JLH Faccini","year":"2017","journal-title":"Rev Bras Parasitol Vet"},{"issue":"11","key":"pone.0353174.ref011","article-title":"A review of the global epidemiology of scrub typhus","volume":"11","author":"G Xu","year":"2017","journal-title":"PLoS Negl Trop Dis"},{"issue":"9","key":"pone.0353174.ref012","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pntd.0005838","article-title":"Estimating the burden of scrub typhus: a systematic review","volume":"11","author":"A Bonell","year":"2017","journal-title":"PLoS Negl Trop Dis"},{"issue":"8","key":"pone.0353174.ref013","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pntd.0003971","article-title":"A systematic review of mortality from untreated scrub typhus (Orientia tsutsugamushi)","volume":"9","author":"AJ Taylor","year":"2015","journal-title":"PLoS Negl Trop Dis"},{"issue":"19","key":"pone.0353174.ref014","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7981","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.0611553104","article-title":"The Orientia tsutsugamushi genome reveals massive proliferation of conjugative type IV secretion system and host-cell interaction genes","volume":"104","author":"N-H Cho","year":"2007","journal-title":"Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A"},{"key":"pone.0353174.ref015","unstructured":"Kawamura A. 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