TY - JOUR
T1 - Detection of a spotted fever group Rickettsia in the tick Haemaphysalis juxtakochi in Rondonia, Brazil
AU - Labruna, Marcelo B.
AU - Camargo, Luis Marcelo A.
AU - Camargo, Erney P.
AU - Walker, David H.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by grants from the Fogarty International Center (D43TW00903 to D.H.W. and M.B.L.), and Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (grant 02/00644-0 to M.B.L.; grant 99/08589-4 to E.P.C.).
PY - 2005/1/20
Y1 - 2005/1/20
N2 - The tick genus Haemaphysalis is represented by four species in the New World, of which only the species Haemaphysalis leporispalustris has been associated with Rickettsiae. The present study reports for the first time the presence of a Rickettsia strain in the tick Haemaphysalis juxtakochi. A free-living male of H. juxtakochi, collected in the state of Rondonia, Western Amazon, Brazil, was subjected to DNA extraction and tested by PCR targeting the four rickettsial genes: gltA, 17-kDa, ompA and ompB. The nucleotide sequences obtained from the PCR products were, by BLAST analyses, closest to Rickettsia rhipicephali sharing 99.7% (1147/1150), 98.8% (429/434), 99.0% (486/491) and 99.0% (809/817) identities with the partial sequences of the gltA, 17-kDa, ompA and ompB genes, respectively. Phylogenetic analyses inferred from the four rickettsial genes showed a high-degree of similarity of this H. juxtakochi-Rickettsia with R. rhipicephali. These two agents grouped together in all trees, always with high bootstrap support (75-96%). This study gives molecular evidence for the presence of a Rickettsia species, designated as strain R300, in the tick H. juxtakochi from the Western Amazon area of Brazil. Genetic analyses showed R300 to be closely related to R. rhipicephali.
AB - The tick genus Haemaphysalis is represented by four species in the New World, of which only the species Haemaphysalis leporispalustris has been associated with Rickettsiae. The present study reports for the first time the presence of a Rickettsia strain in the tick Haemaphysalis juxtakochi. A free-living male of H. juxtakochi, collected in the state of Rondonia, Western Amazon, Brazil, was subjected to DNA extraction and tested by PCR targeting the four rickettsial genes: gltA, 17-kDa, ompA and ompB. The nucleotide sequences obtained from the PCR products were, by BLAST analyses, closest to Rickettsia rhipicephali sharing 99.7% (1147/1150), 98.8% (429/434), 99.0% (486/491) and 99.0% (809/817) identities with the partial sequences of the gltA, 17-kDa, ompA and ompB genes, respectively. Phylogenetic analyses inferred from the four rickettsial genes showed a high-degree of similarity of this H. juxtakochi-Rickettsia with R. rhipicephali. These two agents grouped together in all trees, always with high bootstrap support (75-96%). This study gives molecular evidence for the presence of a Rickettsia species, designated as strain R300, in the tick H. juxtakochi from the Western Amazon area of Brazil. Genetic analyses showed R300 to be closely related to R. rhipicephali.
KW - Amazon
KW - Brazil
KW - Haemaphysalis juxtakochi
KW - Rickettsia
KW - Ticks
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U2 - 10.1016/j.vetpar.2004.09.024
DO - 10.1016/j.vetpar.2004.09.024
M3 - Article
C2 - 15631911
AN - SCOPUS:20344388543
VL - 127
SP - 169
EP - 174
JO - Veterinary Parasitology
JF - Veterinary Parasitology
SN - 0304-4017
IS - 2
ER -