{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"institution":[{"name":"bioRxiv"}],"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]],"date-time":"2026-06-04T16:02:18Z","timestamp":1780588938466,"version":"3.54.1"},"posted":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]]},"group-title":"Genomics","reference-count":0,"publisher":"openRxiv","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]],"date-time":"2026-06-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1780531200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Nebraska Research Initiative"},{"name":"Lyme Disease Association"},{"name":"National Institute of General Medical Sciences","award":["INBRE - P20GM103427"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["INBRE - P20GM103427"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                  <jats:italic>Ixodes scapularis<\/jats:italic>\n                  ticks transmit a number of pathogens important to human health, including\n                  <jats:italic>Borrelia burgdorferi<\/jats:italic>\n                  , the causative agent of Lyme disease. While\n                  <jats:italic>I. scapularis<\/jats:italic>\n                  is found across the Eastern United States, Lyme disease transmission is largely limited to the Northeast and Upper Midwest and is nearly absent in the South. This indicates that differences in northern versus southern clades of\n                  <jats:italic>I. scapularis<\/jats:italic>\n                  are associated with differences in Lyme disease transmission risk.\n                  <jats:italic>I. scapularis<\/jats:italic>\n                  is undergoing range expansion, including into the Great Plains region of the United States. Determining where\n                  <jats:italic>I. scapularis<\/jats:italic>\n                  populations in the Great Plains originated can inform future risk of Lyme disease transmission in this region. In this study, we use a population genomics framework to characterize diversity, structure, and\n                  <jats:italic>B. burgdorferi<\/jats:italic>\n                  infection rates of\n                  <jats:italic>I. scapularis<\/jats:italic>\n                  populations in the Great Plains region. We generated whole genome sequence data and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) datasets from\n                  <jats:italic>I. scapularis<\/jats:italic>\n                  ticks collected in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota to compare to publicly available data from across the species range. Our analysis of 200\n                  <jats:italic>I. scapularis<\/jats:italic>\n                  SNP datasets indicated geographically well-defined populations that correspond to historical northern and southern ancestral clades of\n                  <jats:italic>I. scapularis<\/jats:italic>\n                  . Ticks from South Dakota, Iowa, and northeastern Nebraska are genetically similar populations from the Upper Midwest, while ticks from Kansas are more genetically similar to ticks from the Southeast. Ticks collected in the central eastern region of Nebraska, however, represent an evenly admixed population of both northern and southern genomic backgrounds. Analysis of\n                  <jats:italic>B. burgdorferi<\/jats:italic>\n                  reads from genomic datasets shows ~50% infection rate in ticks from Iowa and northeastern Nebraska, whereas ticks from Kansas show no evidence of\n                  <jats:italic>B. burgdorferi<\/jats:italic>\n                  infection. Of note, evenly admixed ticks from the central eastern region of Nebraska also show no evidence of\n                  <jats:italic>B. burgdorferi<\/jats:italic>\n                  infection. These results provide further evidence that tick genomics may influence traits associated with\n                  <jats:italic>B. burgdorferi<\/jats:italic>\n                  infection status, and thus the potential for Lyme disease transmission. As the range of\n                  <jats:italic>I. scapularis<\/jats:italic>\n                  continues to expand, bringing historically isolated populations into contact, there is a clear need to understand the consequence of genomic admixture for\n                  <jats:italic>B. burgdorferi<\/jats:italic>\n                  transmission potential to inform future risk of Lyme disease in the United States.\n                <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.64898\/2026.06.01.729354","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]],"date-time":"2026-06-04T15:25:14Z","timestamp":1780586714000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["When clades collide: Genomic admixture in blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) from the Great Plains"],"prefix":"10.64898","author":[{"given":"Kaylee S.","family":"Herzog","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of New Mexico, Department of Biology and Museum of Southwestern Biology, Albuquerque, NM 87106, USA; University of Nebraska Medical Center, Department of Epidemiology, Omaha, NE 68198, USA;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zach","family":"Pella","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Nebraska Medical Center, Department of Epidemiology, Omaha, NE 68198, USA;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Halie","family":"Smith","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, Lincoln, NE 68508, USA;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dayna","family":"McCormick","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Nebraska Medical Center, Department of Epidemiology, Omaha, NE 68198, USA;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lily","family":"Nuss","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Nebraska Lincoln, School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Lincoln, NE 68583, USA;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Amanda","family":"Brinkworth","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Nebraska Medical Center, Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, Omaha, NE 68198, USA;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sujata","family":"Chaudhari","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Nebraska Medical Center, Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, Omaha, NE 68198, USA;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kathryn","family":"Duncan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Oklahoma State University, Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kellee","family":"Sundstrom","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Oklahoma State University, Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sydney","family":"Stein","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, Lincoln, NE 68508, USA;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Holly","family":"Black","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Illinois, Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine, Urbana-Champaign, IL 61801, USA;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jose E.","family":"Pietri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Purdue University, Department of Entomology, West Lafayette, IN 47907;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ryan C.","family":"Smith","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"owa State University, Department of Plant Pathology, Entomology and Microbiology, Ames, IA 50011 USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jeff","family":"Hamik","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, Lincoln, NE 68508, USA;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Roberto","family":"Cortinas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Nebraska Lincoln, School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Lincoln, NE 68583, USA;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Joseph R.","family":"Fauver","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Nebraska Medical Center, Department of Epidemiology, Omaha, NE 68198, USA;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"54368","container-title":[],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/syndication.highwire.org\/content\/doi\/10.64898\/2026.06.01.729354","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]],"date-time":"2026-06-04T15:25:14Z","timestamp":1780586714000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"http:\/\/biorxiv.org\/lookup\/doi\/10.64898\/2026.06.01.729354"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]]},"references-count":0,"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.64898\/2026.06.01.729354","relation":{},"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]]},"subtype":"preprint"}}