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2023 Vol.53, Issue 2 Preview Page

Original Article

Characterization of Spotted Fever Group Rickettsia in Ticks Collected from South Korea
Yeon-Joo Choi12
,
Jeoungyeon Kim12
,
Taeuk Kang12
,
Heung-Chul Kim34
,
Terry A Klein3
,
Sung-Tae Chong3
,
Hye-Jin Park12
,
Won-Jong Jang12*
1Department of Microbiology, Konkuk University School of Medicine, 120 Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul 05029, Republic of Korea
2Research Institute of Medical Science, Konkuk University School of Medicine, 120 Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul 05029, Republic of Korea
3Force Health Protection and Preventive Medicine, Medical Department Activity-Korea/65th Medical Brigade, Unit 15281, APO AP 96271-5281, USA
4Current address: U Inc., Daesakwan-ro 34-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul 04409, Republic of Korea
*wjjang@kku.ac.kr
31 December 2023. pp. 108-118
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Abstract

Recently, numbers of newly emerging spotted fever group Rickettsia spp. were observed in ticks. Here, we explored to determine the prevalence of rickettsia species found in ticks from 2 northeastern provinces (Gyeonggi, and Gangwon) of South Korea. A total of 1,798 Ixodid ticks were collected by tick drag methods from August to September 2009 in two northeastern provinces. 204 samples were screened for the rickettsial 17-kDa antigen gene using nested PCR (nPCR), and 25 samples showed positivity. Of the 25 samples, 16 (64%), 11 (44%), and 9 (36%) were positive for rickettsial outer membrane protein A (ompA) gene, outer membrane protein B (ompB) gene, and surface cell antigen 4 (sca4) gene, respectively. BLAST results of ompB, ompA and sca4 sequences were obtained from the two identified genotypes designated as Rickettsia sp. str. koreansis, formerly named as HlR/D91, (from Haemaphysalis longicornis) and InR/D372 (from Ixodes nipponensis). The ompA small part (645bp) of Rickettsia sp. str. koreansis shared 99.8% similarity with Rickettsia sp. FuJ98 (firstly identified in China) while ompA large part (1651bp) of Rickettsia sp. str. koreansis showed 98.8% similarity with R. heilongjiangensis. Further, ompB (1848bp) and sca4 (1705bp) of Rickettsia sp. str. koreansis showed 97.9% and 97.6% sequence similarities with R. hulinensis and R. japonica, respectively, while ompA (small & large parts), ompB, and sca4 derived from Rickettsia sp. InR/D372 clustered with R. monacensis (99.8%) and R. tamurae (99.6%), respectively. These data suggest that the potentially new Rickettsia sp. str. koreansis was closely related to R. japonica, R. heilongjiangensis in northeastern Korea.

Keywords
ompA
ompB
sca4
Spotted fever group Rickettsia
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Information
  • Publisher :The Korean Society for Microbiology and The Korean Society of Virology
  • Publisher(Ko) :대한미생물학회‧대한바이러스학회
  • Journal Title :JOURNAL OF BACTERIOLOGY AND VIROLOGY
  • Volume : 53
  • No :2
  • Pages :108-118
  • Received Date : 2023-10-11
  • Revised Date : 2023-11-30
  • Accepted Date : 2023-12-04
  • DOI :https://doi.org/10.4167/jbv.2023.53.2.108
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