Rickettsia buchneri is the principal symbiotic bacterium of the medically significant tick Ixodes scapularis. This species has been detected primarily in the ovaries of adult female ticks and is vertically transmitted, but its tissue tropism in other life stages and function with regard to tick physiology is unknown. In order to determine the function of R. buchneri, it may be necessary to produce ticks free from this symbiont. We quantified the growth dynamics of R. buchneri naturally occurring in I. scapularis ticks throughout their life cycle and compared it with bacterial growth in ticks in which symbiont numbers were experimentally reduced or eliminated. To eliminate the bacteria, we exposed ticks to antibiotics through injection and artificial membrane feeding. Both injection and membrane feeding of the antibiotic ciprofloxacin were effective at eliminating R. buchneri from most offspring of exposed females. Because of its effectiveness and ease of use, we have determined that injection of ciprofloxacin into engorged female ticks is an efficient means of clearing R. buchneri from the majority of progeny.

中文翻译：

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ick虱（Tick Ixodes scapularis）中布氏共生立克次体的生长动力学和抗生素消除（Acari：Ixodidae）

布氏立克次体是医学上具有重要意义的壁虱小肩I的主要共生细菌。该物种主要在成年雌性s的卵巢中检测到并垂直传播，但在其他生命阶段和and生理方面的功能尚不清楚。为了确定布氏杆菌的功能，可能有必要生产不含该共生体的nt。我们量化了天然存在于肩cap鱼中的布氏假单胞菌的生长动力学throughout的整个生命周期，并将其与bacterial的细菌生长进行比较，在in中通过实验减少或消除共生体数量。为了消除细菌，我们通过注射和人工膜饲喂tick虫接触了抗生素。抗生素环丙沙星的注射和膜饲喂均能有效地从大多数暴露雌性的后代中消除布氏杆菌。由于其有效性和易用性，我们确定将环丙沙星注射入饱腹的雌性tick中是从大多数子代中清除布氏杆菌的有效方法。