Molecular Detection of Candidatus Coxiella mudorwiae from Haemaphysalis concinna in China
Abstract
As one kind of obligated ectoparasites for humans and animals, ticks service as reservoir hosts for various of pathogen or nonpathogen microorganisms . Among which, Coxiella burnetii is known as the causative agent of Q fever, one of the most important zoonotic diseases distributed worldwide. Recently, some most closed Coxiella-like endosymbionts (CLEs) have been discovered in ticks, animals, even human beings. The close associations between CLEs and C. burnetii revealed from compared genomic analysis has aroused great interest for scientists to explore the origin of pathogenic CLEs and the possible implication on the maintaining and transmission of pathogenic Coxiellae. In the present study, our meta-transcript analysis has revealed that, one of CLEs with unknown pathogenicity, Candidatus Coxiella mudorwiae, was found infected in Haemaphysalis concinna evidenced with 16S rRNA gene and 3 arrays of gene transcripts including pyrophosphate--fructose 6-phosphate 1-phosphotransferase-eda-thiol-disulfide isomerase and thioredoxin-greA-carB-carA-DnaJ-DnaK-grpE-ppnk, ropC-ropB, ubiA-non canonical purine NTP pyrophosphatase-hemK-prfA, which suggests diverse CLEs prevail in various ticks in China, more detailed surveys are imperative to clarify the emergence of CLEs and their implication to the epidemiologic characters of Q fever.