Feeding-state is associated with shifts in the Haemaphysalis bispinosa microbiome and its potential as a sentinel for circulating livestock pathogens.

Authors

Penny Humaidah Hamid, Dewa Ayu Putu Rasmika Dewi, Maulana Malik Nashrulloh, Tamara Munoz Caro, Titis Insyari'ati, Nadya Nurvita Rahma, Mujiyanto Mujiyanto, Michael Haryadi Wibowo, April Hari Wardhana

Published in

Veterinary research communications. Volume 50. Issue 5. Aug 10, 2026. Epub Aug 10, 2026.

Abstract

Ticks harbour microbial communities that shape their capacity to acquire and transmit host-associated bacteria. Haemaphysalis (H.) bispinosa is a tick that widely infests variety of hosts across Asia, yet how its bacterial communities are reconfigured across the transition from free-living to blood-feeding states in the field remains poorly understood. Herein, we characterise the microbiome of H. bispinosa using full-length 16 S rRNA gene sequencing. A total of 225 ticks were collected from cattle and the surrounding environment in Central Java, Indonesia. The analysis revealed a diverse array of bacterial taxa spanning 21 phyla and 443 genera. A Coxiella lineage was dominant (46.94%), was present in all samples, and constituted the sole universal core taxon. Environmental ticks exhibited near-monocultural profiles (95-99% Coxiella), whereas host-associated ticks showed increased diversity and the incorporation of additional taxa, including Staphylococcus, Mammaliicoccus, Corynebacterium, and Romboutsia. Within-sample diversity was governed by evenness rather than richness: richness (Chao1) did not differ among states (Kruskal-Wallis, p = 0.543). In contrast, the Shannon index increased significantly from environmental ticks (H = 0.23 ± 0.10) to host-associated ticks (HB, 1.62 ± 0.93; HC, 0.95 ± 0.51; p = 0.0155), a pattern mirrored by Pielou's evenness (p = 0.0155; η² = 0.60), with environmental ticks differing significantly from both host-associated states. Beta-diversity analysis confirmed significant community separation across feeding states (PERMANOVA: Bray-Curtis p = 0.0071, R² = 0.38; Aitchison p = 5 × 10⁻⁴, R² = 0.25; Jaccard p = 0.039, R² = 0.16). The environmental-to-host-attached transition represented the largest compositional shift, and engorged ticks exhibited partial convergence toward a structured microbiome characterised by co-dominance of Coxiella and Mammaliicoccus. These findings indicate that feeding state is a major factor associated with microbiome variation in H. bispinosa. The detection of Anaplasma-associated ASVs suggests that H. bispinosa has potential utility for monitoring circulating livestock-associated bacteria. Future work integrating functional approaches will be essential to resolve the pathogenic status of the dominant Coxiella lineage and clarify microbiome-mediated effects on pathogen transmission.

PMID:
42573661
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 10 Aug 2026.

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