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Obligate intracellular bacteria diversity in unfed Leptotrombidium scutellare larvae highlights novel bacterial endosymbionts of mites
Author(s) -
Ogawa Motohiko,
Takahashi Mamoru,
Matsutani Minenosuke,
Takada Nobuhiro,
Noda Shinichi,
Saijo Masayuki
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
microbiology and immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1348-0421
pISSN - 0385-5600
DOI - 10.1111/1348-0421.12745
Subject(s) - obligate , biology , bacteria , zoology , intracellular parasite , larva , ecology , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics
It is well known that the mite Leptotrombidium scutellare carries the pathogen of scrub typhus, Orientia tsutsugamushi . However, our understanding of other bacterial endosymbionts of mites is limited. This study investigated the diversity of the obligate intracellular bacteria carried by L. scutellare using 16S rRNA gene amplicon analysis with next‐generation sequencing. The results showed that the detected bacteria were classified into the genera Rickettsia, Wolbachia , and Rickettsiella and an unknown genus of the order Rickettsiales. For further classification of the detected bacteria, a representative read that was most closely related to the assigned taxonomic classification was subjected to homology search and phylogenic analysis. The results showed that some bacteria of the genus Rickettsia were identical or very close to the human pathogens Rickettsia akari, Rickettsia aeschlimannii, Rickettsia felis , and Rickettsia australis . The genetic distance between the genus Wolbachia bacteria in the present study and in previous reports is highly indicative that the bacteria in the present study can be classified as a new taxon of Wolbachia . This study detected obligate intracellular bacteria from unfed mites; thus, the mites did not acquire bacteria from infected animals or any other infectious sources. Finally, the present study demonstrated that various and novel bacterial endosymbionts of mites, in addition to O. tsutsugamushi , might uniquely evolve with the host mites throughout overlapping generations of the mite life cycle. The roles of the bacteria in mites and their pathogenicity should be further examined in studies based on bacterial isolation.