Bacterial Diversity in Rhipicephalus Sanguineus (acari: Ixodidae) from Two States in Nigeria

Abstract Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille) is the most widely distributed tick species globally and plays a major role in tick-borne pathogen transmission among canine populations. The microbial community of this tick has not been characterized previously in Nigeria. Thus, in this study, the bacterial diversity in R. sanguineus collected from two states in Nigeria was explored using 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing (IonS5TM XL sequencing platform). Three hundred genera (although 18 groups belong to unidentified genera) of bacteria belonging to 22 phyla were detected after pooling and sequencing, indicating a diverse bacterial community profile. At the phylum level, Actinobacteria (47.39%) was the most abundant phylum in the Benue state samples, followed by Proteobacteria (43.87%) and Firmicutes (8.21%), whereas Fusobacteria (38.14%) was the most abundant phylum in Plateau state samples, followed by Bacteroidetes (17.57%) and Firmicutes (17.54%). Proteobacteria accounts for 17% of samples from Plateau state. In general, Cetobacterium (35.86%) was the most abundant genus, followed by an unidentified genus under Corynebacteriaceae (29.94%) and Stenotrophomonas (19.52%). Coxiella spp., one common endosymbiont found in various tick species, was present in R. sanguineus. This study provides a baseline of knowledge of the bacterial microbiome of R. sanguineus in Nigeria. Nonpathogenic bacteria species were prevalent, and not much is known about their role. Thus, their composition, functional, and ecologic implications merit further investigation because this will aid in the subsequent management of ticks and tick-borne diseases.