Presentation Title
Analysis of midgut microbiome diversity and Borrellia presence within Ixodes scapularis ticks sampled from Vermont Farms
Abstract
Lyme disease has established itself the most common vector borne disease in the US (CDC 2011), “in 2016, Vermont had the second highest rate of reported Lyme disease cases in the U.S.” Along with being of great importance to public health in Vermont, Lyme is spreading to new areas in the US. Lyme disease is caused by an infection of the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi , which is transmitted to humans by a bite from Ixodes scapularis , commonly known as the black-legged tick. Along with Lyme disease, black-legged ticks also have the capability of spreading other diseases such as babesiosis and anaplasmosis.
Borrellia burgdorferi has the ability to colonize the midgut of ticks, which is where it resides when living in carrier ticks. This residence of the midgut has the ability to disrupt the already benign colonized microbes, which make up the tick’s microbiome. For this analysis, a total of 70 ticks were collected over 5 locations. Through collaboration with Dr. Alan Giese at Northern Vermont University, we chose to examine the potential disruption of the tick microbiome in the presence of Borrelia, as well as observable difference within the midgut that result from differences in gender and geographical location of collected ticks. This exploration of the microbiome was done using Illumina Hiseq for sequencing of the 16S bacterial ribosomal RNA of midgut microbes, followed by a microbiome analysis using the QIIME2 pipeline. Additional statistical tests were performed, including differential abundance, Random Forest modeling, and PERMANOVA, in order to test for significant differences between gender and location.
Our results indicate that there is more microbially diversity in the female tick mircrobiome, and that there is possibly a higher prevalence of Borellia in Farmers Hodges (Fairlee, Vt).
Primary Faculty Mentor Name
Julie Dragon
Faculty/Staff Collaborators
Korin Eckstrom
Status
Undergraduate
Student College
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Program/Major
Molecular Genetics
Primary Research Category
Biological Sciences
Analysis of midgut microbiome diversity and Borrellia presence within Ixodes scapularis ticks sampled from Vermont Farms
Lyme disease has established itself the most common vector borne disease in the US (CDC 2011), “in 2016, Vermont had the second highest rate of reported Lyme disease cases in the U.S.” Along with being of great importance to public health in Vermont, Lyme is spreading to new areas in the US. Lyme disease is caused by an infection of the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi , which is transmitted to humans by a bite from Ixodes scapularis , commonly known as the black-legged tick. Along with Lyme disease, black-legged ticks also have the capability of spreading other diseases such as babesiosis and anaplasmosis.
Borrellia burgdorferi has the ability to colonize the midgut of ticks, which is where it resides when living in carrier ticks. This residence of the midgut has the ability to disrupt the already benign colonized microbes, which make up the tick’s microbiome. For this analysis, a total of 70 ticks were collected over 5 locations. Through collaboration with Dr. Alan Giese at Northern Vermont University, we chose to examine the potential disruption of the tick microbiome in the presence of Borrelia, as well as observable difference within the midgut that result from differences in gender and geographical location of collected ticks. This exploration of the microbiome was done using Illumina Hiseq for sequencing of the 16S bacterial ribosomal RNA of midgut microbes, followed by a microbiome analysis using the QIIME2 pipeline. Additional statistical tests were performed, including differential abundance, Random Forest modeling, and PERMANOVA, in order to test for significant differences between gender and location.
Our results indicate that there is more microbially diversity in the female tick mircrobiome, and that there is possibly a higher prevalence of Borellia in Farmers Hodges (Fairlee, Vt).