Haemaphysalis longicornis Metagenome

The Asian longhorned tick (ALHT), Haemaphysalis longicornis, is an invasive pest that seriously threatens livestock. Normally found in Asia and Pacific islands , this tick was reported for the first time in the United States in 2017. In this study, we collected ticks of different developmental stages and identified species; these tick samples were used to study the microbiome using bacterial 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing. We identified numerous bacterial taxa, with Coxiella, Sphingomonas, Staphylococcus, Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, Sphingomonadaceae, Actinomycetales, and Sphingobium the most prevalent in the bacterial community. We documented remarkable turnover in bacterial assemblage between life stages. These findings reveal important associations between life stages and their bacterial community and provide important insights to guide future research.