Recent metagenomics studies have revealed several tick species to host a variety of previously undiscovered RNA viruses. Ixodes ricinus, which is known to be a vector for many viral, bacterial, and protozoan pathogens, is the most prevalent tick species in Europe. For this study, we decided to investigate the virosphere of Belgian I. ricinus ticks. High-throughput sequencing of tick pools collected from six different sampling sites revealed the presence of viruses belonging to many different viral orders and families, including Mononegavirales, Bunyavirales, Partitiviridae, and Reoviridae. Of particular interest was the detection of several new reoviruses, two of which cluster together with members of the genus Coltivirus. This includes a new strain of Eyach virus, a known causative agent of tick-borne encephalitis. All genome segments of this new strain are highly similar to those of previously published Eyach virus genomes, except for the fourth segment, encoding VP4, which is markedly more dissimilar, potentially indicating the occurrence of a genetic reassortment. Further polymerase chain reaction–based screening of over 230 tick pools for 14 selected viruses showed that most viruses could be found in all six sampling sites, indicating the wide spread of these viruses throughout the Belgian tick population. Taken together, these results illustrate the role of ticks as important virus reservoirs, highlighting the need for adequate tick control measures.

中文翻译：

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对蓖麻硬蜱病毒圈的探索揭示了广泛的病毒多样性，包括新型结肠病毒和其他呼肠孤病毒

最近的宏基因组学研究揭示了几种蜱种可以承载各种以前未发现的 RNA 病毒。众所周知，蓖麻硬蜱是许多病毒、细菌和原生动物病原体的载体，是欧洲最普遍的蜱种。对于这项研究，我们决定调查比利时 I. ricinus 蜱的病毒圈。对从六个不同采样点采集的蜱虫池进行高通量测序，揭示了属于许多不同病毒目和科的病毒的存在，包括单链病毒目、布尼亚病毒目、Partitiviridae 和呼肠孤病毒科。特别感兴趣的是检测到几种新的呼肠孤病毒，其中两种与 Coltivirus 属的成员聚集在一起。这包括一种新的 Eyach 病毒株，这是一种已知的蜱传脑炎病原体。这种新毒株的所有基因组片段都与先前公布的 Eyach 病毒基因组高度相似，除了第四片段，编码 VP4，它明显更不相似，可能表明发生了基因重排。进一步基于聚合酶链反应对 14 种选定病毒的 230 多个蜱虫池进行筛选表明，大多数病毒都可以在所有六个采样点中找到，表明这些病毒在整个比利时蜱虫种群中广泛传播。总而言之，这些结果说明了蜱虫作为重要病毒库的作用，强调了采取适当的蜱虫控制措施的必要性。可能表明发生了基因重组。进一步基于聚合酶链反应对 14 种选定病毒的 230 多个蜱虫池进行筛选表明，大多数病毒都可以在所有六个采样点中找到，表明这些病毒在整个比利时蜱虫种群中广泛传播。总而言之，这些结果说明了蜱虫作为重要病毒库的作用，强调了采取适当的蜱虫控制措施的必要性。可能表明发生了基因重组。进一步基于聚合酶链反应对 14 种选定病毒的 230 多个蜱虫池进行筛选表明，大多数病毒都可以在所有六个采样点中找到，表明这些病毒在整个比利时蜱虫种群中广泛传播。总而言之，这些结果说明了蜱虫作为重要病毒库的作用，强调了采取适当的蜱虫控制措施的必要性。