Amplicon sequencing of adult Amblyomma americanum ticks
The 16S rRNA gene was used as a marker to identify bacterial taxa associated to whole adult ticks targeting the hypervariable regions V4-V5 (251bp) of this conserved gene (Primer 515F: GTGYCAGCMGCCGCGGTAA. Primer 926R: CCGYCAATTYMTTTRAGTTT). The amplification of the 16S rRNA gene, purification, library construction and high-throughput sequencing services were hired at the Argonne National Laboratory (California, USA).