ArticleParasites & vectors2017
The abundance of the Lyme disease pathogen Borrelia afzelii declines over time in the tick vector Ixodes ricinus.
Article in Parasites & vectors, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers.
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24 citing papers in PubMed, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- Seasonal variation in prevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato and Neoehrlichia mikurensis in Ixodes ricinus nymphs in southern Norway.Acta veterinaria Scandinavica · 2026Article
- Influence of tick age and land-use on Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. in Ixodes ricinus ticks from the Swabian Alb, Germany.Parasites & vectors · 2025Article
- Adaptive immunity inApplied and environmental microbiology · 2024Article
- Development, Optimization, and Validation of a Quantitative PCR Assay forPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Xenodiagnosis in the wild: A methodology to investigate infectiousness for tick-borne bacteria in a songbird reservoir.Current research in parasitology & vector-borne diseases · 2024Article
- A metalloprotease secreted by an environmentally acquired gut bacterium hindersFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2024Article
- Tick-to-host transmission differs betweenMicrobiology spectrum · 2023Article
- Three-dimensional images reveal the impact of the endosymbiont Midichloria mitochondrii on the host mitochondria.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Infected Ixodes scapularis Nymphs Maintained in Prolonged Questing under Optimal Environmental Conditions for One Year Can Transmit Borrelia burgdorferi (Microbiology spectrum · 2022Article
- Article
- Effects of stress exposure in captivity on physiology and infection in avian hosts: no evidence of increased Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. infectivity to vector ticks.Microbial ecology · 2022Article
- Borrelia afzelii Infection in the Rodent Host Has Dramatic Effects on the Bacterial Microbiome of Ixodes ricinus Ticks.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2021Article
- Biotic Factors Influence Microbiota of Nymph Ticks from Vegetation in Sydney, Australia.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
- Complement Evasion Contributes to Lyme Borreliae-Host Associations.Trends in parasitology · 2020Review
- Identification of TickFrontiers in immunology · 2020Article
- High burdens of Ixodes scapularis larval ticks on white-tailed deer may limit Lyme disease risk in a low biodiversity setting.Ticks and tick-borne diseases · 2019Article
- An immunocompromised mouse model to infect Ixodes scapularis ticks with the relapsing fever spirochete, Borrelia miyamotoi.Ticks and tick-borne diseases · 2019Article
- Competition Between Strains ofFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2019Article
- Competition between strains ofProceedings. Biological sciences · 2018Article
- Borrelia burgdorferi SpoVG DNA- and RNA-Binding Protein Modulates the Physiology of the Lyme Disease Spirochete.Journal of bacteriology · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe population dynamics of vector-borne pathogens inside the arthropod vector can have important consequences for vector-to-host transmission. Tick-borne spirochete bacteria of the Borrelia burgdorferi (sensu lato) species complex cause Lyme borreliosis in humans and spend long periods of time (>12 months) in their Ixodes tick vectors. To date, few studies have investigated the dynamics of Borrelia spirochete populations in unfed Ixodes nymphal ticks.
methodsLarval ticks from our laboratory colony of I. ricinus were experimentally infected with B. afzelii, and killed at 1 month and 4 months after the larva-to-nymph moult. The spirochete load was also compared between engorged larval ticks and unfed nymphs (from the same cohort) and between unfed nymphs and unfed adult ticks (from the same cohort). The spirochete load of B. afzelii in each tick was estimated using qPCR.
resultsThe mean spirochete load in the 1-month-old nymphs (~14,000 spirochetes) was seven times higher than the 4-month-old nymphs (~2000 spirochetes). Thus, the nymphal spirochete load declined by 80% over a period of 3 months. An engorged larval tick acquired ~100 spirochetes, and this population was 20 times larger in a young, unfed nymph. The spirochete load also appeared to decline in adult ticks. Comparison between wild and laboratory populations found that lab ticks were more susceptible to acquiring B. afzelii.
conclusionThe spirochete load of B. afzelii declines dramatically over time in domesticated I. ricinus nymphs under laboratory conditions. Future studies should investigate whether temporal declines in spirochete load occur in wild Ixodes ticks under natural conditions and whether these declines influence the tick-to-host transmission of Borrelia.
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