Fig 1.
Map of Taiwan showing the collection site (★) for ticks from Tainan City.
This map is adapted from free maps (East China map: https://d-maps.com/carte.php?num_car=175&lang=en and Taiwan map; https://d-maps.com/carte.php?num_car=651&lang=en]).
Fig 2.
Molecular detection of Rickettsia infection in Rhipicephalus sanguineus ticks from Tainan City of Taiwan by nested PCR assay targeting (A) citrate synthase (gltA) and (B) outer membrane protein B (ompB) genes.
M, 100 bp DNA marker; 1–14, sample number; N, negative control. The expected PCR product of 338 bp and 420 bp for gltA and ompB, respectively.
Table 1.
Molecular detection of Rickettsia infectiona in Rhipicephalus sanguineus ticks of Taiwan.
Table 2.
Intra- and Inter-species analysis of genetic distance valuesa based on the gltA gene sequences among various Rickettsia strains.
Table 3.
Intra- and Inter-species analysis of genetic distance valuesa based on the ompB gene sequences among various Rickettsia strains.
Fig 3.
Phylogenetic relationships based on the citrate synthase (gltA) gene.
Sequences of Rickettsia between 9 specimens (indicated as ● & ▲) detected in Rhipicephalus sanguineus ticks from Tainan City of Taiwan and 19 other Rickettsia specimens identified from various biological and geographical origins. The Tainan strains were genetically affiliated with the R. massiliae (indicated as ●) and R. felis (indicated as ▲), respectively. The trees were constructed and analyzed by (A) neighbour-joining and (B) maximum likelihood methods using 1000 bootstraps replicates. Numbers at the nodes indicate the percentages of reliability of each branch of the tree. Branch length is drawn proportional to the estimated sequence divergence.
Fig 4.
Phylogenetic relationships based on the outer membrane protein B (ompB) gene.
Sequences of Rickettsia between 8 specimens (indicated as ● & ▲) detected in Rhipicephalus sanguineus ticks from Tainan City of Taiwan and 15 other Rickettsia specimens identified from various biological and geographical origins. The Tainan strains were genetically affiliated with the R. massiliae (indicated as ●) and R. felis (indicated as ▲), respectively. The trees were constructed and analyzed by (A) neighbour-joining and (B) maximum likelihood methods using 1000 bootstraps replicates. Numbers at the nodes indicate the percentages of reliability of each branch of the tree. Branch length is drawn proportional to the estimated sequence divergence.
Fig 5.
Phylogenetic relationships of Rh. sanguineus ticks of Tainan based on mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene.
Sequences of 12 specimens of Rh. sanguineus ticks of Tainan were analyzed with 14 other strains of Rhipicephalus, Dermacentor and Ixodes ticks. The tree was constructed and analyzed by neighbour-joining (NJ) method using 1000 bootstraps replicates. Numbers at the nodes indicate the percentages of reliability of each branch of the tree. Branch length is drawn proportional to the estimated sequence divergence.