Viral Diversity of Tick Species Parasitizing Cattle and Dogs in Trinidad and Tobago

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 9; no. 1; pp. 10421 - 10
• Main Authors: Sameroff, Stephen, Tokarz, Rafal, Charles, Roxanne Albertha, Jain, Komal, Oleynik, Alexandra, Che, Xiaoyu, Georges, Karla, Carrington, Christine V., Lipkin, W. Ian, Oura, Chris
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 18.07.2019; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 45/47; 45/77; 45/90; 631/181/757; 631/326/596/2561; Animals; Arachnids; Cattle; Dogs; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Next-generation sequencing; Parasites - virology; Pathogens; Phylogeny; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Species; Species diversity; Tick Infestations - parasitology; Tick Infestations - veterinary; Ticks - virology; Trinidad and Tobago; Vectors; Viruses - genetics; Trinidad and Tobago; Trinidad & Tobago
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-46914-1

Ticks are vectors of a wide variety of pathogens that are implicated in mild to severe disease in humans and other animals. Nonetheless, the full range of tick-borne pathogens is unknown. Viruses, in particular, have been neglected in discovery efforts targeting tick-borne agents. High throughput sequencing was used to characterize the virome of 638 ticks, including Rhipicephalus microplus (n = 320), Rhipicephalus sanguineus (n = 300), and Amblyomma ovale (n = 18) collected throughout Trinidad and Tobago in 2017 and 2018. Sequences representing nine viruses were identified, including five novel species within Tymovirales , Bunyavirales , Chuviridae , Rhabdoviridae , and Flaviviridae . Thereafter the frequency of detection of viral sequences in individual tick species was investigated.