Temporal patterns in Ixodes ricinus microbial communities: an insight into tick-borne microbe interactions.

BACKGROUND: Ticks transmit pathogens of medical and veterinary importance and are an increasing threat to human and animal health. Assessing disease risk and developing new control strategies requires identifying members of the tick-borne microbiota as well as their temporal dynamics and interactions. METHODS: Using high-throughput sequencing, we studied the Ixodes ricinus microbiota and its temporal dynamics. 371 nymphs were monthly collected during three consecutive years in a peri-urban forest. After a Poisson lognormal model was adjusted to our data set, a principal component analysis, sparse network reconstruction, and differential analysis allowed us to assess seasonal and monthly variability of I. ricinus microbiota and interactions within this community. RESULTS: Around 75% of the detected sequences belonged to five genera known to be maternally inherited bacteria in arthropods and to potentially circulate in ticks: Candidatus Midichloria, Rickettsia, Spiroplasma, Arsenophonus and Wolbachia. The structure of the I. ricinus microbiota varied over time with interannual recurrence and seemed to be mainly driven by OTUs commonly found in the environment. Total network analysis revealed a majority of positive partial correlations. We identified strong relationships between OTUs belonging to Wolbachia and Arsenophonus, evidence for the presence of the parasitoid wasp Ixodiphagus hookeri in ticks. Other associations were observed between the tick symbiont Candidatus Midichloria and pathogens belonging to Rickettsia. Finally, more specific network analyses were performed on TBP-infected samples and suggested that the presence of pathogens belonging to the genera Borrelia, Anaplasma and Rickettsia may disrupt microbial interactions in I. ricinus. CONCLUSIONS: We identified the I. ricinus microbiota and documented marked shifts in tick microbiota dynamics over time. Statistically, we showed strong relationships between the presence of specific pathogens and the structure of the I. ricinus microbiota. We detected close links between some tick symbionts and the potential presence of either pathogenic Rickettsia or a parasitoid in ticks. These new findings pave the way for the development of new strategies for the control of ticks and tick-borne diseases. Video abstract.

Degradation of paraoxon (VX chemical agent simulant) and bacteria by magnesium oxide depends on the crystalline structure of magnesium oxide.

In this work, our goal was to study the capability of a single metallic oxide to neutralize a chemical agent and to exhibit an antibacterial effect. We tested two types of magnesium oxides, MgO. The first MgO sample tested, which commercial data size characteristic was -325 mesh (MgO-1) destroyed in 3 h, 89.7% of paraoxon and 93.2% of 4-nitrophenol, the first degradation product. The second MgO sample, which commercial data size was <50 nm (MgO-2) neutralized in the same time, 19.5% of paraoxon and 10.9% of 4-nitrophenol. For MgO-1 no degradation products could be detected by GC-MS. MgO-1 had a bactericidal activity on Escherichia coli (6 log in 1 h), and showed a decrease of almost 3 log on a Staphylococcus aureus population in 3 h. MgO-2 caused a decrease of 2 log of a E.coli culture but had no activity against S. aureus. Neither of these two products had an activity on Bacillus subtilis spores. Analytical investigations showed that the real sizes of MgO nanoparticles were 11 nm for MgO-1 and 25 nm for MgO-2. Moreover, their crystalline structures were different. These results highlighted the importance of the size of the nanoparticles and their microscopic arrangements to detoxify chemical products and to inhibit or kill microbial strains.