A carregar...
Publicação
The use of metagenomic approaches by NGS-based 16S rRNA to analyse tick’s microbial communities
| Nome: | Descrição: | Tamanho: | Formato: | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.93 MB | Adobe PDF |
Orientador(es)
Resumo(s)
Ticks are ectoparasitic arthropods that feed exclusively on blood from a large range of hosts,
including humans. These arthropods are included in families Argasidae, Ixodidae and Nuttalliellidae.
They are of great importance in health, especially the Ixodidae, due to their capacity to transmit
microorganisms, some of which may be responsible for high morbidity and mortality rates in domestic
and wild animals and humans. For the present study, tick samples were collected from dogs and cats in
veterinary clinics distributed throughout national territory, which constitute the FCISA - Tick
Collection, deposited in the Department of Animal Biology of the Faculty of Sciences of the University
of Lisbon.
This work aims to evaluate tick species circulating in domestic dogs and cats (mainland Portugal) and
their bacterial microbiome. Ticks were morphologically identified and confirmed by COI genetic
marker. To understand the tick microbiome, eight DNA pools were created to perform metagenomic
analysis by NGS-based 16S rRNA. Morphological and molecular identification of tick species were
concordant, highlighting the presence of several species parasitizing dogs and cats. The 16S rRNA
metagenomic results showed a high diversity of bacteria in the tick species studied, with "Candidatus
Midichloria”, Coxiella, Francisella, Wolbachia and Pseudomonas being the most abundant bacterial
genera. Other Bacteria associated with soil, water, plants, arthropods and vertebrates were identified in
this study and have already been related to ticks, suggesting that these bacteria may be acquired from
the environment and from host, which potentially result in variations in the tick microbiome. Many other
minor genera Bacteria (<1%) have also been detected, which have not yet been associated with ticks
and whose importance is unknown.
This study demonstrated which Bacteria are present in the microbiome of the most abundant ticks in
Portugal, but it can be improved with further studies.
Descrição
Tese de mestrado, Biologia Humana e Ambiente, 2025, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências
Palavras-chave
Carraças Metagenómica Agentes Patogénicos Microbioma 16S rRNA Teses de mestrado - 2025