AUTHOR=Qin Tong , Shi Mingjie , Zhang Meina , Liu Zhitong , Feng Hao , Sun Yi 

TITLE=Diversity of RNA viruses of three dominant tick species in North China

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Veterinary Science

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2022.1057977

DOI=10.3389/fvets.2022.1057977

ISSN=2297-1769

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background</title><p>A wide range of bacterial pathogens have been identified in ticks, yet the diversity of viruses in ticks is largely unexplored.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>Here, we used metagenomic sequencing to characterize the diverse viromes in three principal tick species associated with pathogens, <italic>Haemaphysalis concinna, Dermacentor silvarum</italic>, and <italic>Ixodes persulcatus</italic>, in North China.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>A total of 28 RNA viruses were identified and belonged to more than 12 viral families, including single-stranded positive-sense RNA viruses (<italic>Flaviviridae, Picornaviridae, Luteoviridae, Solemoviridae</italic>, and <italic>Tetraviridae</italic>), negative-sense RNA viruses (<italic>Mononegavirales, Bunyavirales</italic>, and others) and double-stranded RNA viruses (<italic>Totiviridae</italic> and <italic>Partitiviridae</italic>). Of these, Dermacentor pestivirus-likevirus, Chimay-like rhabdovirus, taiga tick nigecruvirus, and Mukawa virus are presented as novel viral species, while Nuomin virus, Scapularis ixovirus, Sara tick-borne phlebovirus, Tacheng uukuvirus, and Beiji orthonairovirus had been established as human pathogens with undetermined natural circulation and pathogenicity. Other viruses include Norway mononegavirus 1, Jilin partitivirus, tick-borne tetravirus, Pico-like virus, Luteo-like virus 2, Luteo-likevirus 3, Vovk virus, Levivirus, Toti-like virus, and Solemo-like virus as well as others with unknown pathogenicity to humans and wild animals.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>In conclusion, extensive virus diversity frequently occurs in <italic>Mononegavirales</italic> and <italic>Bunyavirales</italic> among the three tick species. Comparatively, <italic>I. persulcatus</italic> ticks had been demonstrated as such a kind of host with a significantly higher diversity of viral species than those of <italic>H. concinna</italic> and <italic>D. silvarum</italic> ticks. Our analysis supported that ticks are reservoirs for a wide range of viruses and suggested that the discovery and characterization of tick-borne viruses would have implications for viral taxonomy and provide insights into tick-transmitted viral zoonotic diseases.</p></sec>