Rickettsia spp., Ehrlichia sp. and Candidatus Midichloria sp. associated to ticks from a protected urban area in Buenos Aires City (Argentina)

CICUTTIN, GABRIEL L.; DE SALVO, MARÍA N.; VENZAL, JOSÉ M.; NAVA, SANTIAGO

EXPERIMENTAL AND APPLIED ACAROLOGY

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2022

0168-8162

The aim of this study was to determine the infection with Rickettsiales in ticks and birdsfrom the main protected urban area of Buenos Aires City (Argentina). One Amblyommaaureolatum (0.2%) and one Ixodes auritulus (0.1%) were positive by PCR targeting Rickettsia23S-5S rRNA intergenic spacer. Phylogenetic analysis shows to findings in A. aureolatumare closely to Rickettsia bellii and for I. auritulus are related to ?Candidatus Rickettsiamendelii?. One I. auritulus (0.1%) and three A. aureolatum (0.6%) were positive byPCR for a fragment of the 16S rRNA gene of the Anaplasmataceae family. The sequencesobtained from A. aureolatum were phylogenetically related to Midichloriaceae endosymbionts.The sequence from I. auritulus s.l. had 100% identity with Ehrlichia sp. Magellanicafrom Chile and two genotypes of Ehrlichia sp. from Uruguay. The results of our studyshow that Rickettsia and Ehrlichia are present in ticks in the main protected urban area ofBuenos Aires City.