Metagenomic profiling of the bacterial microbiota of human-biting ticks in Yozgat Province, Turkiye
In the present study, the bacterial microbiota of ticks infesting humans in Yozgat Province, Turkiye, was investigated. Ticks were collected from 54 patients who were presented to the Emergency Service of the Yozgat Bozok University Research and Training Hospital between March and November 2019. The fol-lowing tick species were identified: Hyalomma marginatum, Rhipicephalus turanicus, Rhipicephalus bursa, Haemaphysalis parva, Dermacentor marginatus, and Hyalomma aegyptium. 16S rRNA libraries were pre-pared from tick DNA pools using a two-step PCR amplification protocol. The tick pools were analyzed using the 16S rRNA V3-V4 region amplification in a NovaSeq Illumina. In the second indexing PCR, dual Illumina indexes and adapters were added using the Nextera XT Index Kit.