Conference Agenda
Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).
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Daily Overview |
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CP22: Horses & Cows 2 - 10 min talks Location: Lecture Theatre 2 Session Chair: Alicja (Ala) Tabor, The University Of Queensland Session Chair: Sara Taylor, QIMR Berghofer | |
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First Characterisation of the Microbiome of Artificial Membrane Fed Rhipicephalus australis 1: The University of Melbourne, Australia; 2: UMR BIPAR, INRAE, ANSES, Ecole Nationale V´et´erinaire d’Alfort, Université Paris-Est, Maisons-Alfort, France; 3: School of Veterinary Science, Faculty of Science, University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia; 4: Institute of Parasitology and Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany; 5: Veterinary Centre for Resistance Research, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany Ticks are important vectors of pathogens affecting both humans and animals. For example, cattle ticks transmit Anaplasma and Babesia spp., causing substantial economic losses to the global cattle industry. Artificial tick feeding systems (ATFS) are increasingly used as alternatives to animal-based feeding to study tick biology, pathogen transmission and control strategies. However, their impact on the tick microbiome remains poorly understood. This study investigated the microbiome and microbial co-occurrence networks of the Australian cattle tick (Rhipicephalus australis) reared under ATFS conditions to establish baseline insights. Ticks were collected across multiple life stages, from larvae to engorged females, surface decontaminated, and processed for DNA extraction. Microbial profiling was conducted using 16S rRNA gene sequencing on the Illumina NextSeq 1000 platform, with downstream analyses performed in QIIME 2 and R. Artificially fed ticks harboured diverse microbial communities, with variation observed across life stages. Network analyses revealed distinct microbial interaction patterns, suggesting structured community dynamics under in vitro conditions. These findings indicate that ATFS environments, including the blood meal, membrane system, and absence of host-derived immune factors, may influence microbial community composition. Such effects should be considered when interpreting biological processes and vector competence in artificially fed ticks. | |