Metagenomic Investigation of Ticks From Kenyan Wildlife Reveals Diverse Microbial Pathogens and New Country Pathogen Records

Frontiers in Microbiology

Dawn Zimmerman¹  Yvonne-Marie Linton²  Laura Caicedo-Quiroga²  Brian Bourke²  Silvia A. Justi²  Koray Ergunay²  Suzan Murray⁴  Elizabeth Cook⁵  Mathew Mutinda⁶  Samson Mutura⁸  Joseph Kamau⁸  Irene Karagi Akunda⁸  Patrick Omondi^1,10  Francis Gakuya^1,10 

[1] 0Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Disease, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, United States;Department of Entomology, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), Washington, DC, United States;Department of Medical Microbiology, Virology Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey;Global Health Program, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Unit, Fort Royal, VA, United States;International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi, Kenya;Kenya Wildlife Services Corporation, Nairobi, Kenya;One Health Branch, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), Silver Spring, MD, United States;One Health Centre, Institute of Primate Research (IPR), Nairobi, Kenya;Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit (WRBU), Smithsonian Institution Museum Support Center, Suitland, MD, United States;Wildlife Research and Training Institute (WRTI), Naivasha, Kenya;

关键词: tick;    metagenomics;    wildlife;    pathogen;    surveillance;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmicb.2022.932224

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Focusing on the utility of ticks as xenosurveillance sentinels to expose circulating pathogens in Kenyan drylands, host-feeding ticks collected from wild ungulates [buffaloes, elephants, giraffes, hartebeest, impala, rhinoceros (black and white), zebras (Grévy’s and plains)], carnivores (leopards, lions, spotted hyenas, wild dogs), as well as regular domestic and Boran cattle were screened for pathogens using metagenomics. A total of 75 host-feeding ticks [Rhipicephalus (97.3%) and Amblyomma (2.7%)] collected from 15 vertebrate taxa were sequenced in 46 pools. Fifty-six pathogenic bacterial species were detected in 35 pools analyzed for pathogens and relative abundances of major phyla. The most frequently observed species was Escherichia coli (62.8%), followed by Proteus mirabilis (48.5%) and Coxiella burnetii (45.7%). Francisella tularemia and Jingmen tick virus (JMTV) were detected in 14.2 and 13% of the pools, respectively, in ticks collected from wild animals and cattle. This is one of the first reports of JMTV in Kenya, and phylogenetic reconstruction revealed significant divergence from previously known isolates and related viruses. Eight fungal species with human pathogenicity were detected in 5 pools (10.8%). The vector-borne filarial pathogens (Brugia malayi, Dirofilaria immitis, Loa loa), protozoa (Plasmodium spp., Trypanosoma cruzi), and environmental and water-/food-borne pathogens (Entamoeba histolytica, Encephalitozoon intestinalis, Naegleria fowleri, Schistosoma spp., Toxoplasma gondii, and Trichinella spiralis) were detected. Documented viruses included human mastadenovirus C, Epstein-Barr virus and bovine herpesvirus 5, Trinbago virus, and Guarapuava tymovirus-like virus 1. Our findings confirmed that host-feeding ticks are an efficient sentinel for xenosurveillance and demonstrate clear potential for wildlife-livestock-human pathogen transfer in the Kenyan landscape.

【 授权许可】

Unknown