Characterization of rickettsiae in ticks in northeastern China

BACKGROUND: Tick-borne rickettsioses are considered important emerging zoonoses worldwide, but their etiological agents, rickettsiae, remain poorly characterized in northeastern China, where many human cases have been reported during the past several years. Here, we determined the characteristics of Rickettsia spp. infections in ticks in this area. METHODS: Ticks were collected by flagging vegetation from Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces of northeastern China followed by morphological identification. The presence of Rickettsia spp. in ticks was detected by PCR targeting the 23S-5S ribosomal RNA intergenic spacer, citrate synthase (gltA) gene, and 190-kDa outer membrane protein gene (ompA). The newly-generated sequences were subjected to phylogenetic analysis using the software MEGA 6.0. RESULTS: The overall infection rate of Rickettsia spp. was 6.12 %. Phylogenetic analyses based on the partial gltA and ompA genes demonstrated that rickettsiae detected in the ticks belong to four species, including “Candidatus Rickettsia tarasevichiae”, Rickettsia heilongjiangensis, Rickettsia raoultii, and a potential new species isolate. The associated tick species were also identified, i.e. Dermacentor nuttalli and Dermacentor silvarum for R. raoultii, Haemaphysalis concinna and Haemaphysalis longicornis for R. heilongjiangensis, and Ixodes persulcatus for “Ca. R. tarasevichiae”. All Rickettsia spp. showed significantly high infection rates in ticks from Heilongjiang when compared to Jilin Province. CONCLUSION: Rickettsia heilongjiangensis, R. raoultii and “Ca. R. tarasevichiae” are widely present in the associated ticks in northeastern China, but more prevalent in Heilongjiang Province. The data of this study increase the information on the distribution of Rickettsia spp. in northeastern China, which have important public health implications in consideration of their recent association with human diseases. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13071-016-1764-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.