Data from: Concordance of bacterial communities of two tick species and blood of their shared rodent host

High-throughput sequencing is revealing that most macro-organisms house
diverse microbial communities. Of particular interest are disease vectors
whose microbiome could potentially affect pathogen transmission and vector
competence. We investigated bacterial community composition and diversity
of the ticks Dermacentor variabilis (n = 68) and Ixodes scapularis (n =
15) and blood of their shared rodent host, Peromyscus leucopus (n = 45) to
quantify bacterial diversity and concordance. The 16S rRNA gene was
amplified from genomic DNA from field-collected tick and rodent blood
samples, and 454 pyrosequencing was used to elucidate their bacterial
communities. After quality control, over 300 000 sequences were obtained
and classified into 118 operational taxonomic units (OTUs, clustered at
97% similarity). Analysis of rarefied communities revealed that the most
abundant OTUs were tick species-specific endosymbionts, Francisella and
Rickettsia, and the commonly flea-associated bacterium Bartonella in
rodent blood. An Arsenophonus and additional Francisella endosymbiont were
also present in D. variabilis samples. Rickettsia was found in both tick
species but not in rodent blood, suggesting that it is not transmitted
during feeding. Bartonella was present in larvae and nymphs of both tick
species, even those scored as unengorged. Relatively, few OTUs (e.g.
Bartonella, Lactobacillus) were found in all sample types. Overall,
bacterial communities from each sample type were significantly different
and highly structured, independent of their dominant OTUs. Our results
point to complex microbial assemblages inhabiting ticks and host blood
including infectious agents, tick-specific endosymbionts and environmental
bacteria that could potentially affect arthropod-vectored disease
dynamics.