Ticks are obligate hematophagous ectoparasites as well as mechanical and biological vectors of a wide variety of microbial pathogens. To date, 19 tick-borne diseases have been reported from Turkey. In this study, ticks collected from Aydın, İzmir and Şanlıurfa provinces of Turkey were identified using morphological and molecular methods. After the presence of bacterial DNA was checked, Rickettsia spp. and Francisella tularensis were investigated in bacterial DNA-positive tick specimens by PCR. Furthermore, amplicons belonging to tick specimens and positive bacterial samples were sequenced and processed for BLAST, alignment and phylogenetic analysis. As a result, seven tick species were identified: Rhipicephalus sanguineus, Rh. bursa, Rh. turanicus, Hyalomma marginatum, Hy. aegyptium, Hy. anatolicum and Haemaphysalis erinacei. Fifty-five tick specimens tested positive for bacterial DNA and among them, rickettsial DNA was found in five ticks (infection rate = 9.1%) belonging to Hy. marginatum, Hy. aegyptium, Rh. bursa and Rh. turanicus. Of the five Rickettsia-positive ticks, three contained Rickettsia aeschlimannii, one Ri. massiliae and one an unidentified Rickettsia sp. No Francisella tularensis DNA was detected. Sequence analysis of the ompB gene indicated two novel single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in two different Ri. aeschlimannii strains and two novel SNPs as well as a novel insertion (GACGGT) were found in Rickettsia sp. This study indicated the presence of polymorphic Rickettsia species in ticks from Turkey.
Keywords: Francisella tularensis; Hyalomma aegyptium; Hyalomma marginatum; Rhipicephalus bursa; Rhipicephalus turanicus; Rickettsia aeschlimannii; Rickettsia massiliae; gltA; ompB.