Tick-borne illnesses pose a serious concern to human and veterinary health and their prevalence is on the rise. The interactions between ticks and the pathogens they carry are largely undefined. However, the genus Anaplasma, a group of tick-borne bacteria, has been instrumental in uncovering novel paradigms in tick biology. The emergence of sophisticated technologies and the convergence of entomology with microbiology, immunology, metabolism and systems biology has brought tick–Anaplasma interactions to the forefront of vector biology with broader implications for the infectious disease community. Here, we discuss the use of Anaplasma as an instrument for the elucidation of novel principles in arthropod-microbe interactions. We offer an outlook of the primary areas of study, outstanding questions and future research directions.

中文翻译：

---

无形体属：拉开蜱-病原体相互作用的帷幕

蜱传疾病对人类和兽医健康构成严重关注，并且其流行率正在上升。蜱与其携带的病原体之间的相互作用在很大程度上是不确定的。然而，无形体属，一组蜱传细菌，有助于揭示蜱生物学的新范式。尖端技术的出现以及昆虫学与微生物学、免疫学、新陈代谢和系统生物学的融合，将蜱-无形体相互作用带到了媒介生物学的前沿，对传染病界产生了更广泛的影响。在这里，我们讨论了使用无形体作为阐明节肢动物-微生物相互作用新原理的工具。我们对主要研究领域、悬而未决的问题和未来的研究方向进行了展望。