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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Infectious Diseases
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1470242

Multiple spacer sequence typing of Coxiella burnetii carried by ticks in Gansu, China

Provisionally accepted
Ze-Yun Xu Ze-Yun Xu *Fang-Ni Wang Fang-Ni Wang *Rui Jian Rui Jian *Jing Xue Jing Xue Ya-Chun Guo Ya-Chun Guo *Wen-Ping Guo Wen-Ping Guo *
  • Chengde Medical University, Chengde, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Coxiella burnetii is a zoonotic pathogen that causes Q fever and is distributed worldwide. As the reservoir, ticks play an important role in the maintenance in a natural cycle of C. burnetii. Coxiella burnetii is transmitted to animals when ticks fed on their blood.However, the information on C. burnetii infection in ticks is still limited although its infection in humans and animals is widely distributed in China.Methods: In this study, 192 engorged ticks were collected from Baiyin City of Gansu Province, China. The presence of Coxiella burnetii in ticks was specifically identified by detecting the IS1111 gene using nested polymerase chain reaction (nPCR). In addition, the 16S rRNA gene of C. burnetii was molecularly characterized using nPCR. Ten spacer sequences (Cox 2,5,18,20,22,37,51, 56, 57 and 61) were amplified using PCR against positive specimens for MST analysis.Results: All collected ticks were identified as Hyalomma marginatum and 90 of them tested positive for C. burnetii, with a positive rate of 46.9% (90/192). The 16S rRNA gene analysis showed that the novel C. burnetii variants detected in this study was closely related to other C. burnetii strains in the world. The allele codes found in the present study for loci Cox2-Cox5-Cox18-Cox20-Cox22-Cox37-Cox51-Cox56-Cox57-Cox61 were 8-4-9-5-7-5-2-3-11-6. This represents a novel combination of allele values, similar to MST28, currently designated as MST85 in the Multi Spacers Typing (MST) database.Our results revealed that a novel MST genotype of C. burnetii is circulating in Baiyin City of Gansu Province, China. The presence of C. burnetii detected in ticks suggests the potential public health risk to the local human population.

    Keywords: Ticks, Coxiella burnetii, IS1111, 16S rRNA, genotyping, MST

    Received: 25 Jul 2024; Accepted: 01 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Xu, Wang, Jian, Xue, Guo and Guo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Ze-Yun Xu, Chengde Medical University, Chengde, China
    Fang-Ni Wang, Chengde Medical University, Chengde, China
    Rui Jian, Chengde Medical University, Chengde, China
    Ya-Chun Guo, Chengde Medical University, Chengde, China
    Wen-Ping Guo, Chengde Medical University, Chengde, China

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