Species Identification And Rickettsia Detection Of Ornithodoros Lahorensis In Some Areas Of Southern Xinjiang

There are abundant tick species resources in southern Xinjiang.Ornithodoros lahorensisis the most widely distributed soft tick in southern Xinjiang,and is the dominant species of soft ticks in southern Xinjiang.Rickettsia is one of the most important pathogens,which has potential threat to public health and human and animal safety.In order to understand the carrying situation of Rickettsia,the dominant species of soft ticks in southern Xinjiang,this study collected ticks from five counties and cities in southern Xinjiang from 2019 to 2021.After morphological and molecular biological identification,a total of 407 Ornithodoros lahorensis were collected in Atush,Kashgar,Shaya,Wushi and Zepu,Xinjiang.Using MLST method,PCR amplification was carried out based on 17 k Da(protein antigen gene),glt A(citrate synthase gene),Omp A(outer membrane protein a gene),ompb(outer membrane protein B gene),sca1(cell surface antigen 1 gene),rrs(ribosomal gene gene)and gene D(cell surface antigen 4 gene).The sequencing results were blast.Sequence merging and homogeneity test were carried out with phylotools in rstudio,and MEGA7.0 software to construct a polygenic joint evolutionary tree to detect the Rickettsia carried by Ornithodoros lahorensis.The results showed that there was one kind of Rickettsia,Candidatus Rickettsia barbariae.The total infection rate was about 7.6 %,and the highest infection rate was 10.45 % in Kashgar City.PCR amplification was carried out based on 16 S r RNA(ribosomal gene)by PCR detection method.The sequencing results used MEGA7.0 software to construct a genetic evolutionary tree to detect the carrying situation of Ornithodoros lahorensis of Anaplasma.The results showed that the carrying rate of Anaplasma ovis was about 9.83%,and the carrying rate of Kashgar sampling point was the highest,14.01%.To sum up,407 Ornithodoros lahorensis were collected from 5 counties and cities in southern Xinjiang.PCR amplification confirmed that Ornithodoros lahorensis in southern Xinjiang carried temporary Candidatus Rickettsia barbariae and Anaplasma ovis,which supplemented the Rickettsia carrying situation of soft ticks in this area,and given a certain reference for the consider of tick borne Rickettsia in southern Xinjiang.