German Ixodes inopinatus samples may not actually represent this tick species.

Autor: Rollins RE; Institute of Avian Research 'Vogelwarte Helgoland', Wilhelmshaven, Germany. Electronic address: robert.rollins@ifv-vogelwarte.de., Margos G; National Reference Center for Borrelia, Bayerisches Landesamt für Gesundheit und Lebensmittelsicherheit, Oberschleißheim, Germany., Brachmann A; Genetics, Faculty of Biology, LMU Munich, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany., Krebs S; Gene Center, Laboratory for Functional Genome Analysis, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany., Mouchet A; Behavioural Ecology Group, LMU Munich/Department of Biology, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany; IDEEV UMR Evolution, Génomes, Comportement, Ecologie, IRD, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France., Dingemanse NJ; Behavioural Ecology Group, LMU Munich/Department of Biology, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany., Laatamna A; Faculty of Nature and Life Sciences, University of Djelfa, Moudjbara Road, BP 3117, Djelfa, Algeria., Reghaissia N; Laboratory of Sciences and Living Techniques, Institute of Agronomic and Veterinary Sciences, University of Souk Ahras, Annaba Road 41000, Souk Ahras, Algeria., Fingerle V; National Reference Center for Borrelia, Bayerisches Landesamt für Gesundheit und Lebensmittelsicherheit, Oberschleißheim, Germany., Metzler D; Division of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology, LMU Munich, Germany., Becker NS; Division of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology, LMU Munich, Germany., Chitimia-Dobler L; Bundeswehr Institute of Microbiology, Munich, Germany.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: International journal for parasitology [Int J Parasitol] 2023 Nov; Vol. 53 (13), pp. 751-761. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Jul 28.
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpara.2023.06.007
Abstrakt: Ticks are important vectors of human and animal pathogens, but many questions remain unanswered regarding their taxonomy. Molecular sequencing methods have allowed research to start understanding the evolutionary history of even closely related tick species. Ixodes inopinatus is considered a sister species and highly similar to Ixodes ricinus, an important vector of many tick-borne pathogens in Europe, but identification between these species remains ambiguous with disagreement on the geographic extent of I. inopinatus. In 2018-2019, 1583 ticks were collected from breeding great tits (Parus major) in southern Germany, of which 45 were later morphologically identified as I. inopinatus. We aimed to confirm morphological identification using molecular tools. Utilizing two genetic markers (16S rRNA, TROSPA) and whole genome sequencing of specific ticks (n = 8), we were able to determine that German samples, morphologically identified as I. inopinatus, genetically represent I. ricinus regardless of previous morphological identification, and most likely are not I. ricinus/I. inopinatus hybrids. Further, our results showed that the entire mitochondrial genome, let alone singular mitochondrial genes (i.e., 16S), is unable to distinguish between I. ricinus and I. inopinatus. Our results suggest that I. inopinatus is geographically isolated as a species (northern Africa and potentially southern Spain and Portugal) and brings into question whether I. inopinatus exists in central Europe. Our results highlight the probable existence of I. inopinatus and the power of utilizing genomic data in answering questions regarding tick taxonomy.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2023 Australian Society for Parasitology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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