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. 2022 Apr 1;19(7):4223.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19074223.

Genetic Variation in Rhipicephalus sanguineus s.l. Ticks across Arizona

Maureen Brophy  1 , Michael A Riehle  1 , Nikki Mastrud  2 , Alison Ravenscraft  3 , Johnathan E Adamson  3 , Kathleen R Walker  1
Affiliations

Genetic Variation in Rhipicephalus sanguineus s.l. Ticks across Arizona

Maureen Brophy et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Rhipicephalus sanguineus s.l. (Latreille, 1806), the brown dog tick, is the most widely distributed tick species in the world. The two dominant lineages, a temperate group and a tropical group, are recognized as important disease vectors for both dogs and humans. The temperate and tropical lineages overlap in range in some regions of the world, including the southwestern United States, where recent outbreaks of Rocky Mountain spotted fever are linked to R. sanguineus s.l. While it is unclear to what extent they may differ in their capacity to transmit pathogens, finer-scale resolution of temperate and tropical lineage distribution may provide insight into the ecology of these two tick groups and the epidemiology of R. sanguineus s.l.-vectored diseases. Using diagnostic polymerase chain reaction assays, we examined the geospatial trends in R. sanguineus s.l. lineages throughout Arizona. We found the temperate and tropical lineages were well delineated, with some overlap in the eastern part of the state. In one county, tropical and temperate ticks were collected on the same dog host, demonstrating that the two lineages are living in sympatry in some instances and may co-feed on the same host.

Keywords: Rhipicephalus sanguineus; acarology; ticks.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 3
Figure 3
Distribution of R. sanguineus s.l. lineages across latitude and elevation of collection sites.
Figure 1
Figure 1
Proportion of R. sanguineus s.l. lineages on dog hosts by county. Distribution of temperate and tropical ticks across Arizona. Temperate lineage was exclusively found in yellow counties, tropical in dark blue. Both lineages were found in two counties—Gila and Cochise. Numbers in white boxes are number dogs sampled/number of ticks sampled.
Figure 2
Figure 2
R. sanguineus s.l. lineage-specific gel electrophoresis. Red lines delineate reactions using the temperate (left) and tropical (right) primers for each sample. The first sample on the left is a temperate control, with a band from the temperate primer but not the tropical.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Maximum likelihood phylogenies of R. sanguineus s.l. ticks. Maximum likelihood trees based on partial R. sanguineus s.l. 12S rRNA (a) and 16S rRNA (b) sequences, rooted with R. turanicus sequences from NCBI GenBank. Ticks identified by diagnostic PCR as temperate lineage in orange, tropical in blue. Numbers at internal nodes represent support values from bootstrap based on 500 replications.
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