Search

Your search keyword '"Marie Buysse"' showing total 24 results
Start Over Author "Marie Buysse" Search Limiters Available in Library Collection
24 results on '"Marie Buysse"'

1. Detection of Anaplasma and Ehrlichia bacteria in humans, wildlife, and ticks in the Amazon rainforest

Author

Marie Buysse, Rachid Koual, Florian Binetruy, Benoit de Thoisy, Xavier Baudrimont, Stéphane Garnier, Maylis Douine, Christine Chevillon, Frédéric Delsuc, François Catzeflis, Didier Bouchon, and Olivier Duron

Subjects
Science
Abstract

Abstract Tick-borne bacteria of the genera Ehrlichia and Anaplasma cause several emerging human infectious diseases worldwide. In this study, we conduct an extensive survey for Ehrlichia and Anaplasma infections in the rainforests of the Amazon biome of French Guiana. Through molecular genetics and metagenomics reconstruction, we observe a high indigenous biodiversity of infections circulating among humans, wildlife, and ticks inhabiting these ecosystems. Molecular typing identifies these infections as highly endemic, with a majority of new strains and putative species specific to French Guiana. They are detected in unusual rainforest wild animals, suggesting they have distinctive sylvatic transmission cycles. They also present potential health hazards, as revealed by the detection of Candidatus Anaplasma sparouinense in human red blood cells and that of a new close relative of the human pathogen Ehrlichia ewingii, Candidatus Ehrlichia cajennense, in the tick species that most frequently bite humans in South America. The genome assembly of three new putative species obtained from human, sloth, and tick metagenomes further reveals the presence of major homologs of Ehrlichia and Anaplasma virulence factors. These observations converge to classify health hazards associated with Ehrlichia and Anaplasma infections in the Amazon biome as distinct from those in the Northern Hemisphere.

Published
2024
Full Text
View/download PDF

2. Reassessment of the genetic basis of natural rifampin resistance in the genus Rickettsia

Author

Julien Amoros, Noor Fattar, Marie Buysse, Meriem Louni, Joanne Bertaux, Didier Bouchon, and Olivier Duron

Subjects
natural antibiotic resistance, Rickettsia, rifampin, RNA polymerase β subunit, rpoB, Microbiology, QR1-502
Abstract

Abstract Rickettsia, a genus of obligate intracellular bacteria, includes species that cause significant human diseases. This study challenges previous claims that the Leucine‐973 residue in the RNA polymerase beta subunit is the primary determinant of rifampin resistance in Rickettsia. We investigated a previously untested Rickettsia species, R. lusitaniae, from the Transitional group and found it susceptible to rifampin, despite possessing the Leu‐973 residue. Interestingly, we observed the conservation of this residue in several rifampin‐susceptible species across most Rickettsia phylogenetic groups. Comparative genomics revealed potential alternative resistance mechanisms, including additional amino acid variants that could hinder rifampin binding and genes that could facilitate rifampin detoxification through efflux pumps. Importantly, the evolutionary history of Rickettsia genomes indicates that the emergence of natural rifampin resistance is phylogenetically constrained within the genus, originating from ancient genetic features shared among a unique set of closely related Rickettsia species. Phylogenetic patterns appear to be the most reliable predictors of natural rifampin resistance, which is confined to a distinct monophyletic subclade known as Massiliae. The distinctive features of the RNA polymerase beta subunit in certain untested Rickettsia species suggest that R. raoultii, R. amblyommatis, R. gravesii, and R. kotlanii may also be naturally rifampin‐resistant species.

Published
2024
Full Text
View/download PDF

3. Limited association between Wolbachia and Plasmodium falciparum infections in natural populations of the major malaria mosquito Anopheles moucheti

Author

Théo Mouillaud, Audric Berger, Marie Buysse, Nil Rahola, Josquin Daron, Jean‐Pierre Agbor, Sandrine N. Sango, Daniel E. Neafsey, Olivier Duron, and Diego Ayala

Subjects
Anopheles moucheti, malaria control, Plasmodium infection, Wolbachia, Evolution, QH359-425
Abstract

Abstract Since the discovery of natural malaria vector populations infected by the endosymbiont bacterium Wolbachia, a renewed interest has arisen for using this bacterium as an alternative for malaria control. Among naturally infected mosquitoes, Anopheles moucheti, a major malaria mosquito in Central Africa, exhibits one of the highest prevalences of Wolbachia infection. To better understand whether this maternally inherited bacterium could be used for malaria control, we investigated Wolbachia influence in An. moucheti populations naturally infected by the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. To this end, we collected mosquitoes in a village from Cameroon, Central Africa, where this mosquito is the main malaria vector. We found that the prevalence of Wolbachia bacterium was almost fixed in the studied mosquito population, and was higher than previously recorded. We also quantified Wolbachia in whole mosquitoes and dissected abdomens, confirming that the bacterium is also elsewhere than in the abdomen, but at lower density. Finally, we analyzed the association of Wolbachia presence and density on P. falciparum infection. Wolbachia density was slightly higher in mosquitoes infected with the malaria parasite than in uninfected mosquitoes. However, we observed no correlation between the P. falciparum and Wolbachia densities. In conclusion, our study indicates that naturally occurring Wolbachia infection is not associated to P. falciparum development within An. moucheti mosquitoes.

Published
2023
Full Text
View/download PDF

4. Spontaneously occurring tumors in different wild-derived strains of hydra

Author

Justine Boutry, Marie Buysse, Sophie Tissot, Chantal Cazevielle, Rodrigo Hamede, Antoine M. Dujon, Beata Ujvari, Mathieu Giraudeau, Alexander Klimovich, Frédéric Thomas, and Jácint Tökölyi

Subjects
Medicine, Science
Abstract

Abstract Hydras are freshwater cnidarians widely used as a biological model to study different questions such as senescence or phenotypic plasticity but also tumoral development. The spontaneous tumors found in these organisms have been so far described in two female lab strains domesticated years ago (Hydra oligactis and Pelmatohydra robusta) and the extent to which these tumors can be representative of tumors within the diversity of wild hydras is completely unknown. In this study, we examined individuals isolated from recently sampled wild strains of different sex and geographical origin, which have developed outgrowths looking like tumors. These tumefactions have common features with the tumors previously described in lab strains: are composed of an accumulation of abnormal cells, resulting in a similar enlargement of the tissue layers. However, we also found diversity within these new types of tumors. Indeed, not only females, but also males seem prone to form these tumors. Finally, the microbiota associated to these tumors is different from the one involved in the previous lineages exhibiting tumors. We found that tumorous individuals hosted yet undescribed Chlamydiales vacuoles. This study brings new insights into the understanding of tumor susceptibility and diversity in brown hydras from different origins.

Published
2023
Full Text
View/download PDF

5. Phylogenetic evidence for a clade of tick-associated trypanosomes

Author

Rachid Koual, Marie Buysse, Justine Grillet, Florian Binetruy, Sofian Ouass, Hein Sprong, Maxime Duhayon, Nathalie Boulanger, Frédéric Jourdain, Aurélien Alafaci, Julien Verdon, Hélène Verheyden, Claude Rispe, Olivier Plantard, and Olivier Duron

Subjects
Trypanosoma pestanai, Trypanosome specificity, Amblyomma, Ixodes, Infectious and parasitic diseases, RC109-216
Abstract

Abstract Background Trypanosomes are protozoan parasites of vertebrates that are of medical and veterinary concern. A variety of blood-feeding invertebrates have been identified as vectors, but the role of ticks in trypanosome transmission remains unclear. Methods In this study, we undertook extensive molecular screening for the presence and genetic diversity of trypanosomes in field ticks. Results Examination of 1089 specimens belonging to 28 tick species from Europe and South America led to the identification of two new trypanosome strains. The prevalence may be as high as 4% in tick species such as the castor bean tick Ixodes ricinus, but we found no evidence of transovarial transmission. Further phylogenetic analyses based on 18S rRNA, EF1-α, hsp60 and hsp85 gene sequences revealed that different tick species, originating from different continents, often harbour phylogenetically related trypanosome strains and species. Most tick-associated trypanosomes cluster in a monophyletic clade, the Trypanosoma pestanai clade, distinct from clades of trypanosomes associated with transmission by other blood-feeding invertebrates. Conclusions These observations suggest that ticks may be specific arthropod hosts for trypanosomes of the T. pestanai clade. Phylogenetic analyses provide further evidence that ticks may transmit these trypanosomes to a diversity of mammal species (including placental and marsupial species) on most continents. Graphical Abstract

Published
2023
Full Text
View/download PDF

6. Survey of ticks and tick-borne pathogens in wild chimpanzee habitat in Western Uganda

Author

Camille Lacroux, Sarah Bonnet, Emmanuelle Pouydebat, Marie Buysse, Nil Rahola, Sabine Rakotobe, John-Paul Okimat, Rachid Koual, Edward Asalu, Sabrina Krief, and Olivier Duron

Subjects
Amblyomma, Piroplasmids, Borrelia, Cryptoplasma, Ehrlichia, Rickettsia, Infectious and parasitic diseases, RC109-216
Abstract

Abstract Background Ticks and tick-borne pathogens significantly impact both human and animal health and therefore are of major concern to the scientific community. Knowledge of tick-borne pathogens is crucial for prescription of mitigation measures. In Africa, much research on ticks has focused on domestic animals. Little is known about ticks and their pathogens in wild habitats and wild animals like the endangered chimpanzee, our closest relative. Methods In this study, we collected ticks in the forested habitat of a community of 100 chimpanzees living in Kibale National Park, Western Uganda, and assessed how their presence and abundance are influenced by environmental factors. We used non-invasive methods of flagging the vegetation and visual search of ticks both on human team members and in chimpanzee nests. We identified adult and nymph ticks through morphological features. Molecular techniques were used to detect and identify tick-borne piroplasmids and bacterial pathogens. Results A total of 470 ticks were collected, which led to the identification of seven tick species: Haemaphysalis parmata (68.77%), Amblyomma tholloni (20.70%), Ixodes rasus sensu lato (7.37%), Rhipicephalus dux (1.40%), Haemaphysalis punctaleachi (0.70%), Ixodes muniensis (0.70%) and Amblyomma paulopunctatum (0.35%). The presence of ticks, irrespective of species, was influenced by temperature and type of vegetation but not by relative humidity. Molecular detection revealed the presence of at least six genera of tick-borne pathogens (Babesia, Theileria, Borrelia, Cryptoplasma, Ehrlichia and Rickettsia). The Afrotopical tick Amblyomma tholloni found in one chimpanzee nest was infected by Rickettsia sp. Conclusions In conclusion, this study presented ticks and tick-borne pathogens in a Ugandan wildlife habitat whose potential effects on animal health remain to be elucidated. Graphical Abstract

Published
2023
Full Text
View/download PDF

7. Novel Chronic Anaplasmosis in Splenectomized Patient, Amazon Rainforest

Author

Olivier Duron, Rachid Koual, Lise Musset, Marie Buysse, Yann Lambert, Benoît Jaulhac, Denis Blanchet, Kinan Drak Alsibai, Yassamine Lazrek, Loïc Epelboin, Pierre Deshuillers, Céline Michaud, and Maylis Douine

Subjects
anaplasmosis, Amazon rainforest, bacteria, vector-borne infections, zoonoses, French Guiana, Medicine, Infectious and parasitic diseases, RC109-216
Abstract

We report a case of unusual human anaplasmosis in the Amazon rainforest of French Guiana. Molecular typing demonstrated that the pathogen is a novel Anaplasma species, distinct to all known species, and more genetically related to recently described Anaplasma spp. causing infections in rainforest wild fauna of Brazil.

Published
2022
Full Text
View/download PDF

8. A dual endosymbiosis supports nutritional adaptation to hematophagy in the invasive tick Hyalomma marginatum

Author

Marie Buysse, Anna Maria Floriano, Yuval Gottlieb, Tiago Nardi, Francesco Comandatore, Emanuela Olivieri, Alessia Giannetto, Ana M Palomar, Benjamin L Makepeace, Chiara Bazzocchi, Alessandra Cafiso, Davide Sassera, and Olivier Duron

Subjects
endosymbiosis, hematophagy, Francisella, Midichloria, Hyalomma, Medicine, Science, Biology (General), QH301-705.5
Abstract

Many animals are dependent on microbial partners that provide essential nutrients lacking from their diet. Ticks, whose diet consists exclusively on vertebrate blood, rely on maternally inherited bacterial symbionts to supply B vitamins. While previously studied tick species consistently harbor a single lineage of those nutritional symbionts, we evidence here that the invasive tick Hyalomma marginatum harbors a unique dual-partner nutritional system between an ancestral symbiont, Francisella, and a more recently acquired symbiont, Midichloria. Using metagenomics, we show that Francisella exhibits extensive genome erosion that endangers the nutritional symbiotic interactions. Its genome includes folate and riboflavin biosynthesis pathways but deprived functional biotin biosynthesis on account of massive pseudogenization. Co-symbiosis compensates this deficiency since the Midichloria genome encompasses an intact biotin operon, which was primarily acquired via lateral gene transfer from unrelated intracellular bacteria commonly infecting arthropods. Thus, in H. marginatum, a mosaic of co-evolved symbionts incorporating gene combinations of distant phylogenetic origins emerged to prevent the collapse of an ancestral nutritional symbiosis. Such dual endosymbiosis was never reported in other blood feeders but was recently documented in agricultural pests feeding on plant sap, suggesting that it may be a key mechanism for advanced adaptation of arthropods to specialized diets.

Published
2021
Full Text
View/download PDF

9. Surface sterilization methods impact measures of internal microbial diversity in ticks

Author

Florian Binetruy, Marlène Dupraz, Marie Buysse, and Olivier Duron

Subjects
16S rRNA, Bacterial communities, Tick microbiome, Metabarcoding, Amblyomma, Infectious and parasitic diseases, RC109-216
Abstract

Abstract Background Ticks are obligate blood feeders transmitting major pathogens worldwide. Over the past few years, considerable research efforts have focused on the diversity, distribution and impact of gut and intracellular bacterial symbionts on tick development and tick-borne pathogen transmission. The study of this internal microbiome requires the use of a sterilization method to remove external (i.e. cuticular) microbes present on the tick’s surface and to avoid any further contamination. Several sterilization methods exist, including ethanol- or bleach-based treatments that are both effective in killing microbes but with different potential effects on DNA denaturation. Methods We examined how these different sterilization methods impact the measure of internal microbial diversity hosted by the Cayenne tick Amblyomma cajennense (sensu stricto). Bacterial barcoding investigations based on 16S rRNA gene sequences were conducted on two batches of 50 individuals each: Ticks of the first batch were sterilized with bleach diluted at 1% and the second batch with 70% ethanol. Tick external microbiome was also determined from cuticle smearing and water samples used for tick washing. Results Bacterial barcoding investigations showed major differences between ethanol- and bleach-treated specimens. Both methods led to the detection of major intracellular bacteria associated with A. cajennense (s.s.) but ethanol-treated ticks always harbored a higher bacterial diversity than bleach-treated ticks. Further examinations of tick gut and tick external microbiome revealed that ethanol-based surface sterilization method is inefficient to eliminate the DNA of external bacteria. Conclusions We herein provide evidence that studies investigating the internal microbiome of ticks should consider bleach as the gold standard to efficiently remove cuticular bacterial DNA. Indeed, this method does not impact the internal bacterial diversity hosted by ticks and is thus a better method than the ethanol-based one for studying the internal microbiome.

Published
2019
Full Text
View/download PDF

10. Vector competence of the African argasid tick Ornithodoros moubata for the Q fever agent Coxiella burnetii.

Author

Marie Buysse, Maxime Duhayon, Franck Cantet, Matteo Bonazzi, and Olivier Duron

Subjects
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine, RC955-962, Public aspects of medicine, RA1-1270
Abstract

Q fever is a widespread zoonotic disease caused by the intracellular bacterium Coxiella burnetii. While transmission is primarily but not exclusively airborne, ticks are usually thought to act as vectors on the basis of early microscopy studies. However, recent observations revealed that endosymbionts of ticks have been commonly misidentified as C. burnetii, calling the importance of tick-borne transmission into question. In this study, we re-evaluated the vector competence of the African soft tick Ornithodoros moubata for an avirulent strain of C. burnetii. To this end, we used an artificial feeding system to initiate infection of ticks, specific molecular tools to monitor further infections, and culture assays in axenic and cell media to check for the viability of C. burnetii excreted by ticks. We observed typical traits associated with vector competence: The exposure to an infected blood meal resulted in viable and persistent infections in ticks, trans-stadial transmissions of infection from nymphs to adults and the ability of adult ticks to transmit infectious C. burnetii. However, in contrast to early studies, we found that infection differed substantially between tick organs. In addition, while adult female ticks were infected, we did not observe C. burnetii in eggs, suggesting that transovarial transmission is not effective. Finally, we detected only a sporadic presence of C. burnetii DNA in tick faeces, but no living bacterium was further isolated in culture assays, suggesting that excretion in faeces is not a common mode of transmission in O. moubata.

Published
2021
Full Text
View/download PDF

11. Ecological Contacts and Host Specificity Promote Replacement of Nutritional Endosymbionts in Ticks

Author

Florian Binetruy, Raz Leibson, Olivier Duron, Yuval Gottlieb, and Marie Buysse

Subjects
Ecology, Phylogenetic tree, Ecology (disciplines), Soil Science, Biology, Tick, bacterial infections and mycoses, biology.organism_classification, Host Specificity, Ecological network, Ticks, Microbial ecology, Symbiosis, Horizontal gene transfer, Animals, bacteria, Francisella, Phylogeny, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Coevolution
Abstract

Symbiosis with vitamin-provisioning microbes is essential for the nutrition of animals with specialized feeding habits. While coevolution stabilizes the interactions between symbiotic partners, their associations are not necessarily permanent: Recently acquired symbionts can replace ancestral symbionts. In this study, we demonstrate successful replacement dynamics of Francisella-Like Endosymbionts (-LE), a group of invasive B-vitamin-provisioning endosymbionts, across tick communities driven by a complex web of horizontal transfers. Using a broad collection of Francisella-LE-infected tick species, we determined the diversity of Francisella-LE haplotypes through a multi-locus strain typing approach, and further characterized their phylogenetic relationships and their association with biological traits of their tick hosts. The patterns observed showed that Francisella-LE commonly transfer through similar ecological networks and geographic distributions shared among different tick species, and, in certain cases, through preferential shuffling across congeneric tick species. Altogether, these findings reveal the importance of both routes in shaping the invasive pattern in which new nutritional symbioses are initiated.

Published
2021
Full Text
View/download PDF

12. MIxS-SA: a MIxS extension defining the minimum information standard for sequence data from symbiont-associated micro-organisms

Author

Fátima Jorge, Jaelle C. Brealey, Paul J. Brindley, Marie Buysse, Cinzia Cantacessi, Olivier Duron, Raina Fichorova, Connor R. Fitzpatrick, Megan Hahn, Christopher Hunter, Vincent Hervé, Laura J. Knoll, Kevin D. Kohl, Marco Lalle, Julius Lukeš, Joaquín Martínez Martínez, Susan L. Perkins, Robert Poulin, Karyna Rosario, Adam C. Schneider, Lynn M. Schriml, Luke R. Thompson, Ramona L. Walls, Nolwenn M. Dheilly, Maladies infectieuses et vecteurs : écologie, génétique, évolution et contrôle (MIVEGEC), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Université de Montpellier (UM), Centre de Recherche en Ecologie et Evolution de la Santé (CREES), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Montpellier (UM), Institut de recherche sur la biologie de l'insecte UMR7261 (IRBI), Université de Tours (UT)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Unité de virologie, Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l'alimentation, de l'environnement et du travail (ANSES), Laboratoire de Ploufragan-Plouzané-Niort [ANSES], University of Otago [Dunedin, Nouvelle-Zélande], NTNU University Museum [Trondheim], Norwegian University of Science and Technology [Trondheim] (NTNU), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)-Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), The George Washington University (GW), Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge [UK] (CAM), Harvard Medical School [Boston] (HMS), University of North Carolina [Chapel Hill] (UNC), University of North Carolina System (UNC), NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC Health), University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Pittsburgh (PITT), Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE), Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS), Institute of Parasitology [České Budějovice] (BIOLOGY CENTRE CAS), Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences (BIOLOGY CENTRE CAS), Czech Academy of Sciences [Prague] (CAS)-Czech Academy of Sciences [Prague] (CAS), Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, The City College of New York (CCNY), City University of New York [New York] (CUNY), University of South Florida [Tampa] (USF), Hendrix College, University of Maryland School of Medicine, University of Maryland System, Mississippi State University [Mississippi], National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Critical Path Institute [Tucson, AZ], Virologie UMR1161 (VIRO), École nationale vétérinaire - Alfort (ENVA)-Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l'alimentation, de l'environnement et du travail (ANSES)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Cantacessi, Cinzia [0000-0001-6863-2950], and Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository

Subjects
3107 Microbiology, [SDV.MP]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Microbiology and Parasitology, FOS: Biological sciences, Human Genome, Genetics, General Medicine, Infection, 31 Biological Sciences, [SDV.EE.IEO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology, environment/Symbiosis
Abstract

The symbiont-associated (SA) environmental package is a new extension to the minimum information about any (x) sequence (MIxS) standards, established by the Parasite Microbiome Project (PMP) consortium, in collaboration with the Genomics Standard Consortium. The SA was built upon the host-associated MIxS standard, but reflects the nestedness of symbiont-associated microbiota within and across host-symbiont-microbe interactions. This package is designed to facilitate the collection and reporting of a broad range of metadata information that apply to symbionts such as life history traits, association with one or multiple host organisms, or the nature of host-symbiont interactions along the mutualism-parasitism continuum. To better reflect the inherent nestedness of all biological systems, we present a novel feature that allows users to co-localize samples, to nest a package within another package, and to identify replicates. Adoption of the MIxS-SA and of the new terms will facilitate reports of complex sampling design from a myriad of environments.

Published
2022
Full Text
View/download PDF

13. A dual endosymbiosis supports nutritional adaptation to hematophagy in the invasive tick Hyalomma marginatum

Author

Anna Maria Floriano, Marie Buysse, Yuval Gottlieb, Tiago Nardi, Francesco Comandatore, Emanuela Olivieri, Alessia Giannetto, Ana M Palomar, Benjamin L Makepeace, Chiara Bazzocchi, Alessandra Cafiso, Davide Sassera, Olivier Duron, Maladies infectieuses et vecteurs : écologie, génétique, évolution et contrôle (MIVEGEC), Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud]), Centre de Recherche en Ecologie et Evolution de la Santé (CREES), and Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Montpellier (UM)

Subjects
endosymbiosis, General Immunology and Microbiology, hematophagy, QH301-705.5, General Neuroscience, Midichloria, Science, Francisella, Hyalomma, Other, General Medicine, General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, [SDE]Environmental Sciences, Medicine, Biology (General)
Abstract

Many animals are dependent on microbial partners that provide essential nutrients lacking from their diet. Ticks, whose diet consists exclusively on vertebrate blood, rely on maternally inherited bacterial symbionts to supply B vitamins. While previously studied tick species consistently harbor a single lineage of those nutritional symbionts, we evidence here that the invasive tick Hyalomma marginatum harbors a unique dual-partner nutritional system between an ancestral symbiont, Francisella, and a more recently acquired symbiont, Midichloria. Using metagenomics, we show that Francisella exhibits extensive genome erosion that endangers the nutritional symbiotic interactions. Its genome includes folate and riboflavin biosynthesis pathways but deprived functional biotin biosynthesis on account of massive pseudogenization. Co-symbiosis compensates this deficiency since the Midichloria genome encompasses an intact biotin operon, which was primarily acquired via lateral gene transfer from unrelated intracellular bacteria commonly infecting arthropods. Thus, in H. marginatum, a mosaic of co-evolved symbionts incorporating gene combinations of distant phylogenetic origins emerged to prevent the collapse of an ancestral nutritional symbiosis. Such dual endosymbiosis was never reported in other blood feeders but was recently documented in agricultural pests feeding on plant sap, suggesting that it may be a key mechanism for advanced adaptation of arthropods to specialized diets.

Published
2021
Full Text
View/download PDF

15. A dual endosymbiosis drives nutritional adaptation to hematophagy in the invasive tick Hyalomma marginatum

Author

Chiara Bazzocchi, Alessia Giannetto, Ben Makepeace, Anna Maria Floriano, Ana Maria Palomar Urbina, Yuval Gottlieb, Marie Buysse, Alessandra Cafiso, Emanuela Olivieri, Olivier Duron, Tiago Nardi, Francesco Comandatore, and Davide Sassera

Subjects
Genetics, B vitamins, biology, Endosymbiosis, Hematophagy, Hyalomma marginatum, Midichloria, Francisella, Tick, biology.organism_classification, Genome
Abstract

Many animals are dependent on microbial partners that provide essential nutrients lacking from their diet. Ticks, whose diet consists exclusively on vertebrate blood, rely on maternally inherited bacterial symbionts to supply B vitamins. While previously studied tick species consistently harbor a single lineage of those nutritional symbionts, we evidence here that the invasive tick Hyalomma marginatum harbors a unique dual-partner nutritional system between an ancestral symbiont, Francisella, and a more recently acquired symbiont, Midichloria. Using metagenomics, we show that Francisella exhibits extensive genome erosion that endangers the nutritional symbiotic interactions: Its genome includes folate and riboflavin biosynthesis pathways but deprived functional biotin biosynthesis on account of massive pseudogenization. Co-symbiosis compensates this deficiency since the Midichloria genome encompasses an intact biotin operon, which was primarily acquired via lateral gene transfer from unrelated intracellular bacteria commonly infecting arthropods. Thus, in H. marginatum, a mosaic of co-evolved symbionts incorporating gene combinations of distant phylogenetic origins emerged to prevent the collapse of an ancestral nutritional symbiosis. Such dual endosymbiosis was never reported in other blood feeders but was recently documented in agricultural pests feeding on plant sap, suggesting that it may be a key mechanism for advanced adaptation of arthropods to specialized diets.

Published
2021
Full Text
View/download PDF

16. Microbial community structure reveals instability of nutritional symbiosis during the evolutionary radiation of Amblyomma ticks

Author

Nil Rahola, Florian Binetruy, Roxanne Barosi, Manon Villa, Olivier Duron, Marie Buysse, Diego Ayala, Christophe Paupy, Quentin Lejarre, Maladies infectieuses et vecteurs : écologie, génétique, évolution et contrôle (MIVEGEC), Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud]), Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville (CIRMF), Diversity, ecology, evolution & Adaptation of arthropod vectors (MIVEGEC-DEEVA), Evolution des Systèmes Vectoriels (ESV), Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Maladies infectieuses et vecteurs : écologie, génétique, évolution et contrôle (MIVEGEC), Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud]), Evolution of host-microbe communities (MIVEGEC-EVCO), and Processus Écologiques et Évolutifs au sein des Communautés (PEEC)

Subjects
0106 biological sciences, 0301 basic medicine, maternally inherited bacteria, Zoology, Tick, 010603 evolutionary biology, 01 natural sciences, ticks, 03 medical and health sciences, Coxiella, Amblyomma, Symbiosis, Phylogenetics, parasitic diseases, Genetics, Animals, Francisella, Rickettsia, Phylogeny, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Coevolution, Bacteria, biology, Obligate, Microbiota, bacterial infections and mycoses, biology.organism_classification, Biological Evolution, [SDV.MP.BAC]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Microbiology and Parasitology/Bacteriology, symbiosis, [SDV.BA.ZI]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Animal biology/Invertebrate Zoology, endosymbiont replacement, B vitamins, 030104 developmental biology, coevolution, bacteria, microbial community, Adaptation, [SDV.EE.IEO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology, environment/Symbiosis
Abstract

International audience; Mutualistic interactions with microbes have facilitated the adaptation of major eukaryotic lineages to restricted diet niches. Hence, ticks with their strictly blood‐feeding lifestyle are associated with intracellular bacterial symbionts through an essential B vitamin supplementation. In this study, examination of bacterial diversity in 25 tick species of the genus Amblyomma showed that three intracellular bacteria, Coxiella‐like endosymbionts (LE), Francisella‐LE and Rickettsia, are remarkably common. No other bacterium is as uniformly present in Amblyomma ticks. Almost all Amblyomma species were found to harbour a nutritive obligate symbiont, Coxiella‐LE or Francisella‐LE, that is able to synthesize B vitamins. However, despite the co‐evolved and obligate nature of these mutualistic interactions, the structure of microbiomes does not mirror the Amblyomma phylogeny, with a clear exclusion pattern between Coxiella‐LE and Francisella‐LE across tick species. Coxiella‐LE, but not Francisella‐LE, form evolutionarily stable associations with ticks, commonly leading to co‐cladogenesis. We further found evidence for symbiont replacements during the radiation of Amblyomma, with recent, and probably ongoing, invasions by Francisella‐LE and subsequent replacements of ancestral Coxiella‐LE through transient co‐infections. Nutritional symbiosis in Amblyomma ticks is thus not a stable evolutionary state, but instead arises from conflicting origins between unrelated but competing symbionts with similar metabolic capabilities.

Published
2020
Full Text
View/download PDF

17. Novel Rickettsia genotypes in ticks in French Guiana, South America

Author

Florian Binetruy, Marie Buysse, Roxanne Barosi, Olivier Duron, Maladies infectieuses et vecteurs : écologie, génétique, évolution et contrôle (MIVEGEC), Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud]), Evolution of host-microbe communities (MIVEGEC-EVCO), Processus Écologiques et Évolutifs au sein des Communautés (PEEC), Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Maladies infectieuses et vecteurs : écologie, génétique, évolution et contrôle (MIVEGEC), and Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])

Subjects
0301 basic medicine, Rainforest, animal structures, Transovarial transmission, Genotype, 030231 tropical medicine, Zoology, lcsh:Medicine, Tick, Article, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Ticks, Phylogenetics, parasitic diseases, medicine, Animals, Humans, Typing, Rickettsia, lcsh:Science, Phylogeny, Infectious-disease epidemiology, Multidisciplinary, biology, Phylogenetic tree, lcsh:R, Rickettsia Infections, biology.organism_classification, medicine.disease, bacterial infections and mycoses, 3. Good health, Spotted fever, French Guiana, 030104 developmental biology, Rickettsiosis, [SDE]Environmental Sciences, bacteria, lcsh:Q, Bacterial infection
Abstract

Rickettsia are obligate intracellular bacteria often associated with ticks and best known for causing human diseases (rickettsiosis), including typhus fever and sporadic cases of serious infection. In this study, we conducted a large survey of ticks in French Guiana to understand the overall diversity of Rickettsia in this remote area largely covered by dense rainforests. Out of 819 individuals (22 tick species in six genera), 252 (30.8%) samples were positive for Rickettsia infection. Multilocus typing and phylogenetic analysis identified 19 Rickettsia genotypes, but none was 100% identical to already known Rickettsia species or strains. Among these 19 genotypes, we identified two validated Rickettsia species, Rickettsia amblyommatis (spotted fever group) and Rickettsia bellii (bellii group), and characterized a novel and divergent Rickettsia phylogenetic group, the guiana group. While some tick hosts of these Rickettsia genotypes are among the most common ticks to bite humans in French Guiana, their potential pathogenicity remains entirely unknown. However, we found a strong association between Rickettsia genotypes and their host tick species, suggesting that most of these Rickettsia genotypes may be nonpathogenic forms maintained through transovarial transmission.

Published
2020
Full Text
View/download PDF

18. Tissue localization of Coxiella-like endosymbionts in three European tick species through fluorescence in situ hybridization

Author

Claudine Menard, Marie Buysse, Olivier Plantard, Olivier Duron, Karen D. McCoy, Maladies infectieuses et vecteurs : écologie, génétique, évolution et contrôle (MIVEGEC), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Montpellier (UM), UMR 1300 Biologie, Epidémiologie et Analyse du Risque, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire, Agroalimentaire et de l'alimentation Nantes-Atlantique (ONIRIS)-Biologie, Epidémiologie et Analyse du Risque (BioEpAR)-Santé animale (S.A.), Institut des Biomolécules Max Mousseron [Pôle Chimie Balard] (IBMM), Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Montpellier (ENSCM)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Evolution of host-microbe communities (MIVEGEC-EVCO), Processus Écologiques et Évolutifs au sein des Communautés (PEEC), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Maladies infectieuses et vecteurs : écologie, génétique, évolution et contrôle (MIVEGEC), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Montpellier (UM), Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud]), Biologie, Epidémiologie et analyse de risque en Santé Animale (BIOEPAR), Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Maladies infectieuses et vecteurs : écologie, génétique, évolution et contrôle (MIVEGEC), Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud]), Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Montpellier (ENSCM)-Institut de Chimie du CNRS (INC)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), and Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-École nationale vétérinaire, agroalimentaire et de l'alimentation Nantes-Atlantique (ONIRIS)

Subjects
DNA, Bacterial, 0301 basic medicine, Malpighian tubule system, Ixodidae, Transovarial transmission, Ixodes hexagonus, 030231 tropical medicine, In situ hybridization, Tick, Microbiology, Salivary Glands, 03 medical and health sciences, Ticks, Coxiella, 0302 clinical medicine, parasitic diseases, medicine, Animals, Symbiosis, In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence, Phylogeny, ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS, Dermacentor, biology, medicine.diagnostic_test, Ovary, Malpighian tubules, bacterial infections and mycoses, biology.organism_classification, 3. Good health, Europe, B vitamins, 030104 developmental biology, Infectious Diseases, Tissue tropism, Insect Science, bacteria, Female, Parasitology, [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology, Fluorescence in situ hybridization
Abstract

International audience; Ticks are commonly infected by Coxiella-like endosymbionts (Coxiella-LE) which are thought to supply missing B vitamin nutrients required for blood digestion.While this nutritional symbiosis is essential for the survival and reproduction of infected tick species, our knowledge of where Coxiella-LE is localized in tick tissues is partial at best since previous studies have focused on a limited number of Asian or American tick species. To fill this gap, we investigated the tissue localization of Coxiella-LE in three European tick species, Ornithodoros maritimus, Dermacentor marginatus and Ixodes hexagonus, using a diagnostic fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) assay, combined with PCR-based detection. Specific fluorescent foci were observed in several tick tissues. We visualized a pronounced tissue tropism of Coxiella-LE for tick ovaries and Malpighian tubules, a pattern suggestive of a high degree of lifestyle specialization toward mutualism: infection of the ovaries is indicative of transovarial transmission, whereas infection of the Malpighian tubules suggests a nutritional function. We postulate that Malpighian tubules are key organs for the nutritional symbiosis, notably the synthesis of B vitamins by Coxiella-LE, whereas the infection of the ovaries ensures vertical transmission of the symbionts to future generations. We also detected occasional infections in other organs, such as salivary glands and the midgut. Finally, we discuss the potential significance of the different tissue tropism for tick biology.

Published
2019
Full Text
View/download PDF

19. Vector competence of the African argasid tick Ornithodoros moubata for the Q fever agent Coxiella burnetii

Author

Maxime Duhayon, Matteo Bonazzi, Franck Cantet, Olivier Duron, Marie Buysse, Maladies infectieuses et vecteurs : écologie, génétique, évolution et contrôle (MIVEGEC), Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud]), Animal, Santé, Territoires, Risques et Ecosystèmes (UMR ASTRE), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Département Systèmes Biologiques (Cirad-BIOS), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad), Institut de Recherche en Infectiologie de Montpellier (IRIM), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Montpellier (UM), Evolution of host-microbe communities (MIVEGEC-EVCO), Processus Écologiques et Évolutifs au sein des Communautés (PEEC), Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Maladies infectieuses et vecteurs : écologie, génétique, évolution et contrôle (MIVEGEC), Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud]), and Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)

Subjects
Male, Bacterial Diseases, Life Cycles, Transovarial transmission, Physiology, [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio], RC955-962, Disease Vectors, L73 - Maladies des animaux, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, law.invention, Feces, Medical Conditions, Ticks, law, Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine, Medicine and Health Sciences, Polymerase chain reaction, 0303 health sciences, biology, Transmission (medicine), [SDV.BA]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Animal biology, Arthropod Vectors, Eukaryota, 3. Good health, Bacterial Pathogens, Body Fluids, Vecteur de maladie, Infectious Diseases, Blood, Intracellular Pathogens, Fièvre q, Coxiella burnetii, Medical Microbiology, Female, Public aspects of medicine, RA1-1270, Pathogens, Anatomy, Q Fever, L72 - Organismes nuisibles des animaux, Research Article, Arthropoda, Excretion, Q fever, Tick, Microbiology, 03 medical and health sciences, Ornithodoros moubata, Arachnida, parasitic diseases, medicine, Animals, Ornithodoros, Microbial Pathogens, Transmission des maladies, 030304 developmental biology, Ixodes, 030306 microbiology, Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health, Organisms, Biology and Life Sciences, biology.organism_classification, medicine.disease, bacterial infections and mycoses, Virology, Invertebrates, Nymphs, Vector-Borne Diseases, Species Interactions, Vector (epidemiology), bacteria, Physiological Processes, Zoology, Developmental Biology
Abstract

Q fever is a widespread zoonotic disease caused by the intracellular bacterium Coxiella burnetii. While transmission is primarily but not exclusively airborne, ticks are usually thought to act as vectors on the basis of early microscopy studies. However, recent observations revealed that endosymbionts of ticks have been commonly misidentified as C. burnetii, calling the importance of tick-borne transmission into question. In this study, we re-evaluated the vector competence of the African soft tick Ornithodoros moubata for an avirulent strain of C. burnetii. To this end, we used an artificial feeding system to initiate infection of ticks, specific molecular tools to monitor further infections, and culture assays in axenic and cell media to check for the viability of C. burnetii excreted by ticks. We observed typical traits associated with vector competence: The exposure to an infected blood meal resulted in viable and persistent infections in ticks, trans-stadial transmissions of infection from nymphs to adults and the ability of adult ticks to transmit infectious C. burnetii. However, in contrast to early studies, we found that infection differed substantially between tick organs. In addition, while adult female ticks were infected, we did not observe C. burnetii in eggs, suggesting that transovarial transmission is not effective. Finally, we detected only a sporadic presence of C. burnetii DNA in tick faeces, but no living bacterium was further isolated in culture assays, suggesting that excretion in faeces is not a common mode of transmission in O. moubata., Author summary The intracellular bacterium Coxiella burnetii is the agent of Q fever, a widespread zoonotic disease. Some early detection reports and microscopy studies identified ticks as vectors of Q fever but more recent studies and molecular analyses revealed that endosymbionts of ticks have been commonly misidentified as C. burnetii: It raises questions of whether ticks play an important role in Q fever transmission. In our study, we therefore experimentally re-evaluate the vector competence of the African soft tick Ornithodoros moubata for C. burnetii. We found that O. moubata can be infected by C. burnetii after the exposure to an infected blood meal. It resulted in viable and persistent infections in ticks, a trans-stadial transmission and the ability of adult ticks to transmit infection when feeding. Infection was however not transmitted transovarially or by faeces as early reported. Overall, we conclude that O. moubata may act as a driver of the transmission and of the spatial dispersal of Q fever among vertebrates where this tick is present in Africa.

Published
2021
Full Text
View/download PDF

20. A novel Borrelia species, intermediate between Lyme disease and relapsing fever groups, in neotropical passerine-associated ticks

Author

Florian Binetruy, Bruno Faivre, Stéphane Garnier, Marie Buysse, Valérie Noël, Nathalie Boulanger, Olivier Duron, Emilie Talagrand-Reboul, Etienne Loire, Maladies infectieuses et vecteurs : écologie, génétique, évolution et contrôle (MIVEGEC), Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud]), Biogéosciences [UMR 6282] (BGS), Université de Bourgogne (UB)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Virulence bactérienne précoce : fonctions cellulaires et contrôle de l'infection aiguë et subaiguë, Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA), Animal, Santé, Territoires, Risques et Ecosystèmes (UMR ASTRE), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Département Systèmes Biologiques (Cirad-BIOS), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad), Evolution Théorique et Expérimentale (MIVEGEC-ETE), Perturbations, Evolution, Virulence (PEV), Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Maladies infectieuses et vecteurs : écologie, génétique, évolution et contrôle (MIVEGEC), Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud]), Evolution of host-microbe communities (MIVEGEC-EVCO), Processus Écologiques et Évolutifs au sein des Communautés (PEEC), Biogéosciences [UMR 6282] [Dijon] (BGS), and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Bourgogne (UB)-AgroSup Dijon - Institut National Supérieur des Sciences Agronomiques, de l'Alimentation et de l'Environnement

Subjects
0301 basic medicine, relapsing fever, [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio], lcsh:Medicine, L73 - Maladies des animaux, Genome, 0302 clinical medicine, Lyme disease, Ticks, Amblyomma, Genus, RNA, Ribosomal, 16S, lcsh:Science, Lyme Disease, Multidisciplinary, biology, Relapsing Fever, Passerine, 3. Good health, Vecteur de maladie, Espèce nouvelle, Pathogens, L72 - Organismes nuisibles des animaux, DNA, Bacterial, 030231 tropical medicine, Zoology, Tick, Article, Borréliose, 03 medical and health sciences, Borrelia, biology.animal, medicine, Animals, Bacteria, Whole Genome Sequencing, lcsh:R, medicine.disease, biology.organism_classification, bacterial infections and mycoses, 030104 developmental biology, Candidatus, lcsh:Q, [SDV.SPEE]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Santé publique et épidémiologie, Genome, Bacterial
Abstract

Lyme disease (LD) and relapsing fevers (RF) are vector-borne diseases caused by bacteria of the Borrelia genus. Here, we report on the widespread infection by a non-described Borrelia species in passerine-associated ticks in tropical rainforests of French Guiana, South America. This novel Borrelia species is common in two tick species, Amblyomma longirostre and A. geayi, which feed on a broad variety of neotropical mammal and bird species, including migratory species moving to North America. The novel Borrelia species is divergent from the LD and RF species, and is more closely related to the reptile- and echidna-associated Borrelia group that was recently described. Genome sequencing showed that this novel Borrelia sp. has a relatively small genome consisting of a 0.9-Mb-large chromosome and an additional 0.3 Mb dispersed on plasmids. It harbors an RF-like genomic organization but with a unique mixture of LD- and RF-specific genes, including genes used by RF Borrelia for the multiphasic antigen-switching system and a number of immune-reactive protein genes used for the diagnosis of LD. Overall, our data indicate that this novel Borrelia is an intermediate taxon between the LD and RF species that may impact a large host spectrum, including American mammals. The designation “Candidatus Borrelia mahuryensis” is proposed for this species.

Published
2020
Full Text
View/download PDF

21. The transmission-blocking effects antimalarial drugs revisited: mosquito fitness costs and sporontocidal effects of artesunate and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine

Author

Arnaud Berthomieu, Manon Villa, Marie Buysse, Ana Rivero, Maladies infectieuses et vecteurs : écologie, génétique, évolution et contrôle (MIVEGEC), Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud]), Health, Emergence, Adaptation and Transmission (MIVEGEC-HEAT), Processus Écologiques et Évolutifs au sein des Communautés (PEEC), Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Maladies infectieuses et vecteurs : écologie, génétique, évolution et contrôle (MIVEGEC), and Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])

Subjects
030231 tropical medicine, 03 medical and health sciences, chemistry.chemical_compound, 0302 clinical medicine, parasitic diseases, medicine, Gametocyte, [SDV.MP.PAR]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Microbiology and Parasitology/Parasitology, 030304 developmental biology, [SDV.EE.SANT]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology, environment/Health, Infectivity, 0303 health sciences, biology, Transmission (medicine), fungi, biology.organism_classification, Blood meal, medicine.disease, Virology, Sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine, Plasmodium relictum, 3. Good health, chemistry, Artesunate, Malaria, medicine.drug
Abstract

Assays used to evaluate the transmission-blocking activity of antimalarial drugs are largely focused on their potential to inhibit or reduce the infectivity of gametocytes, the blood stages of the parasite that are responsible for the onward transmission to the mosquito vector. For this purpose, the drug is administered concomitantly with the gametocyte-infected blood, and the results are evaluated as the % reduction in the number of oocysts in the mosquito midgut.We report the results of a series of experiments that explore the transmission blocking potential of two key antimalarial drugs, artesunate (AS) and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP), when administered to mosquitoes already infected from a previous blood meal. For this purpose, uninfected mosquitoes and mosquitoes carrying a 6-day old Plasmodium relictum infection (early oocyst stages) are allowed to feed either on a drug-treated or an untreated host in a fully factorial experiment. This protocol allows us to bypass the gametocyte stages and establish whether the drugs are able to arrest the ongoing development of oocysts and sporozoites, as would be the case when a mosquito takes a post-infection treated blood meal. In a separate experiment, we also explore whether a drug-treated blood meal impacts key life history traits of the mosquito relevant for transmission, and if this depends on their infection status.Our results show that feeding on an AS- or SP-treated host has no epidemiologically relevant effects on the fitness of infected or uninfected mosquitoes. In contrast, when infected mosquitoes feed on an SP-treated host, we observe both a significant increase in the number of oocysts in the midgut, and a drastic decrease in both sporozoite prevalence (−30%) and burden (−80%) compared to the untreated controls. We discuss the potential mechanisms underlying these seemingly contradictory results and contend that, provided the results are translatable to human malaria, the potential epidemiological and evolutionary consequences of the current preventive use of SP in malaria-endemic countries could be substantial.

Published
2020
Full Text
View/download PDF

22. Evidence that microbes identified as tick-borne pathogens are nutritional endosymbionts

Author

Marie Buysse, Olivier Duron, Maladies infectieuses et vecteurs : écologie, génétique, évolution et contrôle (MIVEGEC), and Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])

Subjects
0303 health sciences, 03 medical and health sciences, Tick borne, 030306 microbiology, Zoology, [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology, Biology, ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS, General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, 3. Good health, 030304 developmental biology
Abstract

International audience

Published
2021
Full Text
View/download PDF

23. Two novel Rickettsia species of soft ticks in North Africa: ‘Candidatus Rickettsia africaseptentrionalis’ and ‘Candidatus Rickettsia mauretanica’

Author

Olivier Duron, Marie Buysse, Maladies infectieuses et vecteurs : écologie, génétique, évolution et contrôle (MIVEGEC), Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud]), Evolution of host-microbe communities (MIVEGEC-EVCO), Processus Écologiques et Évolutifs au sein des Communautés (PEEC), Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Maladies infectieuses et vecteurs : écologie, génétique, évolution et contrôle (MIVEGEC), and Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])

Subjects
0301 basic medicine, Nymph, Tunisia, animal structures, 030231 tropical medicine, Zoology, Tick, [SDV.BID.SPT]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity/Systematics, Phylogenetics and taxonomy, Microbiology, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Bacterial Proteins, Phylogenetics, RNA, Ribosomal, 16S, Animals, Soft ticks, Ornithodoros erraticus, Rickettsia, Ornithodoros, biology, Felis, biology.organism_classification, bacterial infections and mycoses, North Africa, [SDV.MP.BAC]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Microbiology and Parasitology/Bacteriology, Morocco, RNA, Bacterial, 030104 developmental biology, Infectious Diseases, Sister group, Insect Science, Algeria, Candidatus, bacteria, Parasitology, [SDV.EE.IEO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology, environment/Symbiosis
Abstract

International audience; Rickettsia are obligate intracellular bacteria often reported from hard ticks but more rarely from soft ticks. In this study, we detected in Northern Africa two putatively novel Rickettsia species in soft tick species of the Ornithodoros erraticus complex: Ornithodoros occidentalis from Morocco, Ornithodoros erraticus from Algeria and Ornithodoros normandi from Tunisia. We characterized these two novel Rickettsia species on the basis of comparative DNA sequence analyses and phylogenetics of four genes (gltA, 16S rRNA, coxA and ompB). These Rickettsia, provisionally named 'Candidatus Rickettsia africaseptentrionalis' and 'Candidatus Rickettsia maur-etanica', differed in nucleotide sequence from those of other Rickettsia species by 0.38-21.43 % depending on the gene examined. Phylogenetics further showed that the two novel Rickettsia species are closely related to each other and represent sister taxa to R. hoogstraalii, R. felis and R. asembonensis within the transitional Rickettsia group. While Ornithodoros host species of 'Candidatus Rickettsia africaseptentrionalis' and 'Candidatus Rickettsia mauretanica' are among the most common soft ticks to bite humans, their pathogenicity remains to be investigated .

Published
2020
Full Text
View/download PDF

24. Tick-Bacteria Mutualism Depends on B Vitamin Synthesis Pathways

Author

Renaud Lancelot, Marie Buysse, Etienne Loire, Olivier Bouchez, Fabrice Vavre, Florian Binetruy, Laurence Vial, Olivier Duron, Valérie Noël, Claudine Menard, Olivier Morel, Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (UMR ISEM), École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD] : UR226, Evolution of host-microbe communities (MIVEGEC-EVCO), Processus Écologiques et Évolutifs au sein des Communautés (PEEC), Maladies infectieuses et vecteurs : écologie, génétique, évolution et contrôle (MIVEGEC), Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Maladies infectieuses et vecteurs : écologie, génétique, évolution et contrôle (MIVEGEC), Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud]), Génétique et évolution des interactions hôtes-parasites, Département génétique, interactions et évolution des génomes [LBBE] (GINSENG), Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive - UMR 5558 (LBBE), Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (Inria)-VetAgro Sup - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement (VAS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (Inria)-VetAgro Sup - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement (VAS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive - UMR 5558 (LBBE), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (Inria)-VetAgro Sup - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement (VAS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Evolution Théorique et Expérimentale (MIVEGEC-ETE), Perturbations, Evolution, Virulence (PEV), Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud]), Animal, Santé, Territoires, Risques et Ecosystèmes (UMR ASTRE), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Centre de Biologie pour la Gestion des Populations (UMR CBGP), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Centre international d'études supérieures en sciences agronomiques (Montpellier SupAgro)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier (Montpellier SupAgro), Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro), Institut des Biomolécules Max Mousseron [Pôle Chimie Balard] (IBMM), Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Montpellier (ENSCM)-Institut de Chimie du CNRS (INC)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire de Génétique Cellulaire (LGC), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse (ENVT), Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées, Equipe de recherche européenne en algorithmique et biologie formelle et expérimentale (ERABLE), Inria Grenoble - Rhône-Alpes, Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (Inria)-Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (Inria), CNRS, IRD, CIRAD, Laboratoire d'Excellence CEBA, France Genomique National infrastructure as part of the 'Investissement d'Avenir' program [ANR-10-INBS-09], French Ministry for National Education and Research, VetAgroSup, LABEX ECOFECT of Universite de Lyon, within the program 'Investissements d'Avenir' [ANR-11-LABX-0048, ANR-11-IDEX-0007], Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD] : UR226-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Chimie du CNRS (INC)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Montpellier (ENSCM), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-École pratique des hautes études (EPHE)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD] : UR226-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Montpellier (UM), Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Montpellier (ENSCM)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse (ENVT), and Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)

Subjects
0301 basic medicine, Male, 030106 microbiology, Tick, L73 - Maladies des animaux, General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, 03 medical and health sciences, Ornithodoros moubata, Animals, L50 - Physiologie et biochimie animales, Francisella, Rickettsia, Ornithodoros, Symbiosis, Gene, ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS, Mutualism (biology), Genetics, biology, Obligate, Intracellular parasite, [SDV.BID.EVO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity/Populations and Evolution [q-bio.PE], 000 - Autres thèmes, L10 - Génétique et amélioration des animaux, biology.organism_classification, bacterial infections and mycoses, Biosynthetic Pathways, B vitamins, 030104 developmental biology, Vitamin B Complex, bacteria, Female, [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology, General Agricultural and Biological Sciences, [SDV.EE.IEO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology, environment/Symbiosis
Abstract

Summary Mutualistic interactions with microbes have facilitated the radiation of major eukaryotic lineages [ 1 , 2 ]. Microbes can notably provide biochemical abilities, allowing eukaryotes to adapt to novel habitats or to specialize on particular feeding niches [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]. To investigate the importance of mutualisms for the exclusive blood feeding habits of ticks, we focused on a bacterial genus of medical interest, Francisella, which is known to include both virulent intracellular pathogens of vertebrates [ 5 , 6 ] and maternally inherited symbionts of ticks [ 7 , 8 , 9 ]. Through a series of physiological experiments, we identified a Francisella type, F-Om, as an obligate nutritional mutualist in the life cycle of the African soft tick Ornithodoros moubata. Francisella F-Om mutualism synthesizes B vitamins that are deficient in the blood meal of ticks. Indeed, experimental elimination of Francisella F-Om resulted in alteration of tick life history traits and physical abnormalities, deficiencies which were fully restored with an oral supplement of B vitamins. We also show that Francisella F-Om is maternally transmitted to all maturing tick oocytes, suggesting that this heritable symbiont is an essential adaptive element in the life cycle of O. moubata. The Francisella F-Om genome further revealed a recent origin from a Francisella pathogenic life style, as observed in other Francisella symbionts [ 6 , 7 , 10 ]. Though half of its protein-coding sequences are now pseudogenized or lost, Francisella F-Om has kept several B vitamin synthesis pathways intact, confirming the importance of these genes in evolution of its nutritional mutualism with ticks.

Published
2018
Full Text
View/download PDF

Catalog

Books, media, physical & digital resources
See catalog results