A global dataset of microbial community in field-collected ticks by next generation sequencing

Ticks are important vectors of various zoonotic microorganisms that can infect animals and humans, and most documented tick-borne microorganisms have a strong bias towards microorganisms with strong disease phenotypes. Fortunately, the recent development of next-generation sequencing (NGS) is providing a richer view of the virome and microbiome. However, less is known about the global profile of virome and microbiome diversity associated with free-living ticks. In this article, we perform the first comprehensive dataset of the diversity of microorganisms by NGS in field-collected ticks, including 4424 records (76 literature) of geo-referenced occurrences for 47 species of ticks and 219 microorganism families, derived from peer-reviewed references in both English and Chinese. This resulting dataset provides a distribution and diversity outline of tick-borne virome and microbiome in the global health community, demonstrating the need to increase sharing of NGS and consider wider surveillance of free-living ticks in different regions, thus helping to support spatial and risk assessment analysis and surveillance efforts.