Ticks without borders: Microbial communities of immature Neotropical tick species parasitizing migratory landbirds along northern Gulf of Mexico
Authors: Karim Shahid , Zenzal Theodore J. , Beati Lorenza , Sen Raima , Adegoke Abdulsalam , Kumar Deepak , Downs Latoyia P. , Keko Mario , Nussbaum Ashly , Becker Daniel J. , Moore Frank R. 
Published: October 2023

The long-distance, seasonal migrations of birds make them an effective ecological bridge for the movement of ticks. The introduction of exotic tick species to new geographical regions can lead to the emergence of novel tick-borne pathogens or the re-emergence of previously eradicated ones. This study assessed the prevalence of exotic tick species parasitizing resident, short-distance, and long-distance songbirds during spring and autumn at stopover sites in the northern Gulf of Mexico using the mitochondrial 12S rDNA gene. Birds were captured for tick collection from six different sites from late August to early November in both 2018 and 2019. The highest number of ticks were collected in the 2019 season. Most ticks were collected off the Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteria virens) and Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas), and 54% of the total ticks collected were from Grand Chenier, LA. A high throughput 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing approach was followed to characterize the microbial communities and identify pathogenic microbes in all tick samples. Tick microbial communities, diversity, and community structure were determined using quantitative insight into microbial ecology (QIIME). The sparse correlations for compositional data (SparCC) approach was then used to construct microbial network maps and infer microbial correlations. A total of 421 individual ticks in the generaAmblyomma, Haemaphysalis,andIxodeswere recorded from 28 songbird species, of whichAmblyommaandAmblyomma longirostrewas the most abundant tick genus and species, respectively. Microbial profiles showed that Proteobacteria was the most abundant phylum. The most abundant bacteria include the pathogenicRickettsiaand endosymbiontFrancisella, Candidatus Midichloria,andSpiroplasma. BLAST analysis and phylogenetic reconstruction of theRickettsiasequences revealed the highest similarities to pathogenic spotted and non-spotted fever groups, including R. buchneri, R. conorii, R. prowazekii, R. bellii, R. australis, R. parkeri, R. monacensis,andR. monteiroi. Permutation multivariate analysis of variance revealed that the relative abundance ofFrancisellaandRickettsiadrives microbial patterns across the tick genera. We also observed a higher percentage of positive correlations in microbe-microbe interactions among members of the microbial communities. Network analysis suggested a negative correlation between a)FrancisellaandRickettsiaand, b)FrancisellaandCutibacterium. Lastly, mapping the distributions of bird species parasitized during spring migrations highlighted geographic hotspots where migratory songbirds could disperse ticks and their pathogens at stopover sites or upon arrival to their breeding grounds, the latter showing means dispersal distances from 421–5003 kilometers. These findings strongly highlight the potential role of migratory birds in the epidemiology of tick-borne pathogens.

Abstract Figure

Graphic abstract:

Overview of the experimental approach for bird collection and characterization of neotropical ticks microbiome. A) Birds migrating through the Mississippi flyway into the United States were trapped and captured for identification and tick collection and B) immature developmental stages of feeding ticks infesting the birds were carefully removed and stored for morphological and molecular identification of tick species. C) Tick DNA was used for the PCR amplification of arthropods mitochondrial 12S rDNA and amplicons were sequenced and compared to deposited datasets in NCBI database. D) Microbial DNA was isolated using V3-V4 16S primers and unique barcodes attached to amplified 16S sequences prior to Illumina MiSeq sequences. E) Distribution and contribution of birds to tick infestation, and distribution and community profiles of sequenced microbial communities.