A nice collaborative work highlighted on the INRAE website

PRESS RELEASE - Ticks are among the primary vectors of human and animal pathogens, and therefore present a serious public and veterinary health problem. In addition to the pathogens they transmit, ticks have their own microbiota composed of microorganisms living in symbiosis with them. Research teams from INRAE and the University of Zaragoza (Spain) conducted a three-year field study to analyze the microbiota of the tick Ixodes ricinus, vector of the bacteria responsible for Lyme disease, and to understand its role in the acquisition and transmission of pathogens. Their results, published on July 3, 2021 in Microbiome, show that the structure and composition of the tick microbiota evolve over time and highlight interactions between certain members of the microbiota and several pathogens. They thus open new research perspectives for the development of biological control strategies against ticks. Read the whole article here