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Molecular detection of Rickettsia infection in field-collected bed bugs

Bed bugs are now one of the most prevalent human-associated, blood-feeding pests in the urban world, but few studies of their association with human pathogens have been conducted since their resurgence. Here, we used PCR to screen samples of field-collected bed bugs (Cimex spp.) for the presence of...

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Autores principales: Potts, R., Molina, I., Sheele, J.M., Pietri, J.E.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6997558/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32025311
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nmni.2019.100646
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author Potts, R.
Molina, I.
Sheele, J.M.
Pietri, J.E.
author_facet Potts, R.
Molina, I.
Sheele, J.M.
Pietri, J.E.
author_sort Potts, R.
collection PubMed
description Bed bugs are now one of the most prevalent human-associated, blood-feeding pests in the urban world, but few studies of their association with human pathogens have been conducted since their resurgence. Here, we used PCR to screen samples of field-collected bed bugs (Cimex spp.) for the presence of Rickettsia bacteria and we describe the first detection of an uncharacterized Rickettsia in Cimex lectularius in nature. Rickettsia was detected in 5/39 (12.8%) of the bed bug samples tested. In particular, three pools from the USA and two individual insects from the UK were positive for Rickettsia DNA. Sequencing and analysis of a fragment of the citrate synthase gene (gltA) from positive samples from each country revealed that the Rickettsia detected in both were identical and were closely related to a Rickettsia previously detected in the rat flea Nosopsyllus laeviceps. Additional experiments indicated that the Rickettsia localizes to multiple tissues in the bed bug and reaches high titres. Attempts were made to infect mammalian cells in culture but these efforts were inconclusive. Our findings suggest that Rickettsia are secondary endosymbionts of bed bugs and have potential implications for both bed bug control and public health. However, further investigation is required to determine the pathogenicity of this Rickettsia, its transmission mechanisms, and its contributions to bed bug physiology.
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spelling pubmed-69975582020-02-05 Molecular detection of Rickettsia infection in field-collected bed bugs Potts, R. Molina, I. Sheele, J.M. Pietri, J.E. New Microbes New Infect Original Article Bed bugs are now one of the most prevalent human-associated, blood-feeding pests in the urban world, but few studies of their association with human pathogens have been conducted since their resurgence. Here, we used PCR to screen samples of field-collected bed bugs (Cimex spp.) for the presence of Rickettsia bacteria and we describe the first detection of an uncharacterized Rickettsia in Cimex lectularius in nature. Rickettsia was detected in 5/39 (12.8%) of the bed bug samples tested. In particular, three pools from the USA and two individual insects from the UK were positive for Rickettsia DNA. Sequencing and analysis of a fragment of the citrate synthase gene (gltA) from positive samples from each country revealed that the Rickettsia detected in both were identical and were closely related to a Rickettsia previously detected in the rat flea Nosopsyllus laeviceps. Additional experiments indicated that the Rickettsia localizes to multiple tissues in the bed bug and reaches high titres. Attempts were made to infect mammalian cells in culture but these efforts were inconclusive. Our findings suggest that Rickettsia are secondary endosymbionts of bed bugs and have potential implications for both bed bug control and public health. However, further investigation is required to determine the pathogenicity of this Rickettsia, its transmission mechanisms, and its contributions to bed bug physiology. Elsevier 2020-01-07 /pmc/articles/PMC6997558/ /pubmed/32025311 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nmni.2019.100646 Text en © 2020 The Author(s) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
spellingShingle Original Article
Potts, R.
Molina, I.
Sheele, J.M.
Pietri, J.E.
Molecular detection of Rickettsia infection in field-collected bed bugs
title Molecular detection of Rickettsia infection in field-collected bed bugs
title_full Molecular detection of Rickettsia infection in field-collected bed bugs
title_fullStr Molecular detection of Rickettsia infection in field-collected bed bugs
title_full_unstemmed Molecular detection of Rickettsia infection in field-collected bed bugs
title_short Molecular detection of Rickettsia infection in field-collected bed bugs
title_sort molecular detection of rickettsia infection in field-collected bed bugs
topic Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6997558/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32025311
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nmni.2019.100646
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