{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,7]],"date-time":"2026-07-07T16:17:51Z","timestamp":1783441071780,"version":"3.54.6"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,27]],"date-time":"2021-07-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1627344000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Pathogens"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Variation in tick microbiota may affect pathogen acquisition and transmission but for many vector species, including Amblyomma hebraeum, components and determinants of the microbiome are unidentified. This pilot study aimed to determine baseline microbial community within A. hebraeum nymphs infected- and non-infected with Rickettsia africae from the environment, and within adult ticks infected- and non-infected with R. africae collected from cattle sampled from two locations in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Adult A. hebraeum ticks (N = 13) and A. hebraeum nymph (N = 15) preliminary screened for R. africae were randomly selected and subjected to Illumina sequencing targeting the v3\u2013v4 hypervariable regions of the 16S rRNA gene. No significant difference in microbial community composition, as well as rarefied OTU richness and diversity were detected between adults and nymphs. Nymphs showed a higher richness of bacterial taxa indicating blood-feeding could have resulted in loss of microbial diversity during the moulting stage from nymph to adult. Core OTUs that were in at least 50% of nymphs and adults negative and positive for Rickettsia at 1% minimum relative abundance were Rickettsia, Coxiella and Ruminococcaceae UCG-005 with a single genus Arsenophonus occurring only in nymphs negative for Rickettsia. Ehrlichia spp. was present in only four nymphal ticks positive for Rickettsia. Interestingly, Rickettsia\u00a0aeschlimannii was found in one nymph and one adult, indicating the first ever detection of the species in A. hebraeum. Furthermore, A. hebraeum harboured a Coxiella-like endosymbiont, which should be investigated further as Coxiella may affect the viability and transmission of other organisms.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/pathogens10080941","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,27]],"date-time":"2021-07-27T12:18:31Z","timestamp":1627388311000},"page":"941","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["A Pilot Study on the Microbiome of Amblyomma hebraeum Tick Stages Infected and Non-Infected with Rickettsia africae"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8872-0648","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dalicia","family":"Kisten","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Life Sciences, Biological Sciences Section, College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, Durban 4000, South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jory","family":"Brinkerhoff","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Life Sciences, Biological Sciences Section, College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, Durban 4000, South Africa"},{"name":"Department of Biology, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA 23173, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Selaelo Ivy","family":"Tshilwane","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Life Sciences, Biological Sciences Section, College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, Durban 4000, South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6843-1497","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Samson","family":"Mukaratirwa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Life Sciences, Biological Sciences Section, College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, Durban 4000, South Africa"},{"name":"One Health Center for Zoonoses and Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, Basseterre 42123, Saint Kitts and Nevis"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"67","DOI":"10.4269\/ajtmh.2009.81.67","article-title":"Tick-borne zoonotic bacteria in ticks collected from central Spain","volume":"81","author":"Toledo","year":"2009","journal-title":"Am. 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