Microbial composition of enigmatic bird parasites: Wolbachia and Spiroplasma are the most important bacterial associates of quill mites (Acariformes: Syringophilidae).

MicrobiologyOpen
Eliza GlowskaMichael Gerth

Abstract

The microbiome is an integral component of many animal species, potentially affecting behavior, physiology, and other biological properties. Despite this importance, bacterial communities remain vastly understudied in many groups of invertebrates, including mites. Quill mites (Acariformes: Syringophilidae) are a poorly known group of permanent bird ectoparasites that occupy quills of feathers and feed on bird subcutaneous tissue and fluids. Most of the known species have strongly female-biased sex ratio, and it was hypothesized that this is caused by endosymbiotic bacteria. Previously, Anaplasma phagocytophilum (Foggie) and a high diversity of Wolbachia strains were detected in quill mites via targeted PCR screens. Here, we use an unbiased 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing approach to determine other bacteria that potentially impact quill mite biology. We performed 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing of 126 quill mite individuals from eleven species parasitizing twelve species (four families) of passeriform birds. In addition to Wolbachia, we found Spiroplasma as potential symbiont of quill mites. Consistently, high Spiroplasma titers were only found in individuals of two mite species associated with finches of the genus Cardueli...Continue Reading

References

Jun 11, 1998·Emerging Infectious Diseases·A F Azad, C B Beard
Jan 20, 1999·The British Journal of Ophthalmology·K L ThereseH N Madhavan
May 23, 2000·Nature·M E HuigensR Stouthamer
Jan 1, 1997·Annual Review of Entomology·J H Werren
Dec 13, 2005·The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology·Cherry R ValerioJay E Slater
Jan 28, 2006·The Lancet Infectious Diseases·Georgios PappasEpameinondas V Tsianos
May 25, 2006·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Kerry M OliverMartha S Hunter
Jul 6, 2006·Applied and Environmental Microbiology·Shunsuke GotoTakema Fukatsu
Apr 20, 2007·Biology Letters·John JaenikeMiranda Minhas
Apr 3, 2008·Medical and Veterinary Entomology·S A BilleterE B Breitschwerdt
Feb 20, 2009·Molecular Ecology·Tamara S HaselkornNancy A Moran
Feb 24, 2009·Trends in Microbiology·Emilie Vautrin, Fabrice Vavre
Jan 19, 2010·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Takahiro HosokawaTakema Fukatsu
Nov 3, 2010·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Gil SharonEugene Rosenberg
Aug 27, 2011·Genome Biology·Andrea SbonerMark B Gerstein
Oct 25, 2011·Nucleic Acids Research·Martin KircherMatthias Meyer
Nov 6, 2012·Nature·W JetzA O Mooers
Nov 30, 2012·Nucleic Acids Research·Christian QuastFrank Oliver Glöckner
Feb 9, 2013·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Margaret McFall-NgaiJennifer J Wernegreen
Apr 1, 2011·Environmental Microbiology Reports·Hisashi Anbutsu, Takema Fukatsu
Nov 5, 2013·Applied and Environmental Microbiology·Alice M LaughtonNicole M Gerardo
Mar 5, 2014·Emerging Infectious Diseases·Patricia E MascarelliEdward B Breitschwerdt
Apr 9, 2014·Experimental & Applied Acarology·Jan KopeckýJan Hubert
Dec 3, 2014·The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology·Ting-Fung ChanStephen Kwok-Wing Tsui
Dec 30, 2014·Infection, Genetics and Evolution : Journal of Molecular Epidemiology and Evolutionary Genetics in Infectious Diseases·Eliza GlowskaMichael Gerth
Jan 24, 2015·Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research : JSLHR·Jill GilkersonKeith Topping
Jul 15, 2015·Frontiers in Genetics·Boyang Ji, Jens Nielsen
Mar 16, 2016·The ISME Journal·Kayla C KingGregory Dd Hurst
Apr 18, 2016·Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine·Valentina Virginia EbaniPaolo Mani
May 24, 2016·Nature Methods·Benjamin J CallahanSusan P Holmes
Apr 11, 2017·Molecular Ecology·Piotr ŁukasikJacob A Russell

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Citations

Dec 3, 2020·Frontiers in Microbiology·Gang LiuJingying Zhou
Oct 14, 2021·Microbiology Spectrum·Emilie LefoulonBarton E Slatko

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Datasets Mentioned

BETA
PRJNA482380

Methods Mentioned

BETA
PCR
amplicon sequencing
Chip

Software Mentioned

R
cutadapt
vegan
phyloseq
R packages
ggplot2
Ion Torrent
DADA2
R package decontam

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Bartonellosis

Bartonellosis is an infection caused by bacteria in the genus Bartonella and can present as a variety of diseases depending on the organism involved. While asymptomatic infection has been reported, immunocompromised individuals are more susceptible to severe infection. Find the latest research on bartonellosis here.