The tick virome and its relationship with South African animal hosts

Ticks (Arthropoda: Chelicerata) act as vectors for a wide range of pathogens (viruses, bacteria, and protozoa). These ectoparasites pose a significant threat to animal and human health, globally, with particular importance in regions, such as South Africa, with a rich biodiversity of host species groups. While considerable research has been conducted on viral, bacterial, and protozoan tick-vectored diseases (e.g. Lyme disease and babesiosis) the pathogenic viral communities (viromes) that specifically infect ticks and induce mortality or cause direct infection, remain largely unexplored, especially in the context of South African ecosystems.
A virome encompasses the entire viral diversity found within an organism or ecosystem. In ticks, this includes pathogenic viruses capable of infecting vertebrate hosts, but also endogenous viral elements, bacteriophages, and other viruses that may play important roles in tick health, biology, and ecology. Recent advancements in next-generation sequencing technologies have revolutionised our ability to detect and characterise diverse viral communities, and shows promise to reveal the complexity of the tick-associated virome. Such detail may help us to identify novel systems posing risk to vertebrate hosts, or identify mortality driving viruses in tick populations that may exert a control over tick populations.
The impact of this study will include a greater knowledge of tick dispersion (based on our sampling range), tick disease (identified from our screening methods), and uncover novel viral associations with either an animal host health impact, or identify novel agents for tick control. Controlling tick species that carry harmful pathogens of humans and livestock constitutes an important and lucrative topic, with few available options. This study has strong potential to outline novel options for tick control.
This project aims to address these knowledge gaps by conducting a comprehensive investigation of tick viruses, from a wide range of tick species, from various animal hosts in South Africa. By combining cutting-edge genomic and transcriptomic technologies with traditional parasitological and virological methods, we seek to unravel the complex relationships between ticks, their animal hosts, and both the RNA and DNA viruses they carry. Furthermore, this research will lay the groundwork for the development of novel diagnostic tools that can rapidly identify and characterise tick-borne viruses, as well as outline the control potential of viral discoveries, ultimately contributing to improved surveillance and management of tick-borne diseases in South Africa.