Local Population Structure and Seasonal Variability of Borrelia garinii Genotypes in Ixodes ricinus Ticks, Slovakia

Zuzana Mtierová, Markéta Derdáková, Michal Chvostáč, Yuliya M. Didyk, Barbara Mangová, Veronika Rusňáková Tarageľová, Diana Selyemová, Alžbeta Šujanová and Radovan Václav
Additional contact information
Zuzana Mtierová: Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 06 Bratislava, Slovakia
Markéta Derdáková: Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 06 Bratislava, Slovakia
Michal Chvostáč: Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 06 Bratislava, Slovakia
Yuliya M. Didyk: Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 06 Bratislava, Slovakia
Barbara Mangová: Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 06 Bratislava, Slovakia
Veronika Rusňáková Tarageľová: Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 06 Bratislava, Slovakia
Diana Selyemová: Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 06 Bratislava, Slovakia
Alžbeta Šujanová: Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 06 Bratislava, Slovakia
Radovan Václav: Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 06 Bratislava, Slovakia

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 10, 1-19

Abstract: Lyme disease (LD) is the most common tick-borne human disease in Europe, and Borrelia garinii , which is associated with avian reservoirs, is one of the most genetically diverse and widespread human pathogenic genospecies from the B. burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) complex. The clinical manifestations of LD are known to vary between regions and depend on the genetic strain even within Borrelia genospecies. It is thus of importance to explore the genetic diversity of such pathogenic borreliae for the wide range of host and ecological contexts. In this study, multilocus sequence typing (MLST) was employed to investigate the local population structure of B. garinii in Ixodes ricinus ticks. The study took place in a natural wetland in Slovakia, temporally encompassing spring and autumn bird migration periods as well as the breeding period of resident birds. In total, we examined 369 and 255 ticks collected from 78 birds and local vegetation, respectively. B. burgdorferi s.l. was detected in 43.4% (160/369) of ticks recovered from birds and in 26.3% (67/255) of questing ticks, respectively. Considering the ticks from bird hosts, the highest prevalence was found for single infections with B. garinii (22.5%). Infection intensity of B. garinii in bird-feeding ticks was significantly higher than that in questing ticks. We identified ten B. garinii sequence types (STs) occurring exclusively in bird-feeding ticks, two STs occurring exclusively in questing ticks, and one ST (ST 244) occurring in both ticks from birds and questing ticks. Four B. garinii STs were detected for the first time herein. With the exception of ST 93, we detected different STs in spring and summer for bird-feeding ticks. Our results are consistent with previous studies of the low geographic structuring of B. garinii genotypes. However, our study reveals some consistency in local ST occurrence and a geographic signal for one of the clonal complexes.

Keywords: Lyme disease; Turdus merula; host ecology; geographic structuring; clonal complexes; ecological niche (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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