Genomic and Proteomic Analyses of Bacterial Communities of Ticks from Broome County, New York.
Michel Shamoon-Pour, Emily H Canessa, John Macher, Amaan Fruitwala, Emma Draper, Benjamin Policriti, Matthew Chin, Matthew Nunez, Paul Puccio, Yuan Fang, Xin-Ru Wang, Yetrib Hathout
Author Information
Michel Shamoon-Pour: First-year Research Immersion, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA. ORCID
Emily H Canessa: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA. ORCID
John Macher: Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA.
Amaan Fruitwala: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA.
Emma Draper: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA.
Benjamin Policriti: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA.
Matthew Chin: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA.
Matthew Nunez: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA.
Paul Puccio: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA.
Yuan Fang: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA. ORCID
Xin-Ru Wang: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA.
Yetrib Hathout: Tick-borne Disease Center, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA.
The microbial communities of , the primary vector of Lyme disease in North America, exhibit regional variations that may affect pathogen transmission and vector competence. We analyzed bacterial communities in ticks collected from Broome County, New York, using 16S rRNA gene sequencing (18 ticks) as well as mass spectrometry-based proteomics (36 ticks). According to the 16S rRNA analysis, the endosymbiont was the most abundant species, with significantly higher ( = 0.0011) abundance in females (54.76%) compared to males (31.15%). We detected in 44.44% of ticks and in two nymphs but in high relative abundances (12.73% and 46.46%). Male ticks exhibited higher bacterial diversity, although the community composition showed no significant clustering by sex or life stage. Co-occurrence analysis revealed negative associations between and ( = 0.0245), but no associations with . Proteomic analysis identified 12 -specific proteins, additionally detecting the protozoan pathogen in 18.18% of females. These findings provide the first comprehensive characterization of microbiomes in the Southern Tier region of New York and suggest broader distribution of across tick life stages than previously recognized, with potential implications for pathogen transmission dynamics.
