title: Emerging spotted fever group rickettsiae in ticks, northwestern China.
abstract: We report Rickettsia conorii subsp. indica, Candidatus R. barbariae and R. massiliae in Rhipicephalus turanicus from sheep around the Taklamakan desert, northwestern China. The topology of the phylogenetic trees produced from the maximum likelihood (ML) analyses of the ompA-gltA-rrs-geneD-ompB concatenated sequence data was very similar to that of the neighbor joining (NJ) tree, and with total support of 69%-100% bootstrap values for the inclusion of the rickettsiae in Rh. turanicus within the clade that contained R. conorii subsp. indica; Candidatus R. barbariae and Rickettsia sp. Tselentii; R. massiliae str. AZT80; and R. massiliae MTU5, respectively. Studies suggest that the co-existence of these spotted fever group rickettsiae is a threat to public health in China. Work is important in exploring novel and emerging pathogens.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832000, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. Electronic address: lipingguo229@126.com.
authors.forename: Li-Ping
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832000, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China; Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030 Hubei, China. Electronic address: 799149270@qq.com.
authors.forename: Su-Hua
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: School of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832000, Xinjiang, China. Electronic address: 1606538241@qq.com.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: School of Animal Science and Technology, Tarim University, Aral 843300, Xinjiang, China. Electronic address: wswdky@126.com.
authors.forename: Shi-Wei
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832000, Xinjiang, China. Electronic address: ccf-xb@163.com.
authors.forename: Chuang-Fu
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832000, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. Electronic address: wangyuanzhi621@126.com.
authors.forename: Yuan-Zhi
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D021821:Communicable Diseases, Emerging / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012281:Rickettsia / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D000073605:Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D013987:Ticks / Q000382:microbiology*
keywords: Candidatus Rickettsia barbariae; Northwestern China; Rhipicephalus turanicus; Rickettsia conorii