Table 1.
Selected bacterial taxa of public health importance, potential symbionts, and other prevalent OTUs detected in individual and pooled chiggers in comparison to soils and background controls
| Bacterial taxa (OTU identifier) | Maximum OTU Proportion (%) | Individual chigger | Pooled chigger | Soil | Control |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Positive samples (%) | Positive samples(%) | Positive samples (%) | Positive samples (%) | ||
| Opportunistic/Potential pathogens | |||||
| Bacillus cereus (4463224) | 1.63P | 4(3.67) | 31(47.69) | 11(61.11) | – |
| Borrelia (New.ReferenceOTU7) | 34.82P | 1(0.92) | 32(49.23) | – | – |
| Campylobacter (New.CleanUp.ReferenceOTU30) | 1.49P | – | 3(4.62) | – | – |
| Clostridium (New.ReferenceOTU2470) | 3.43P | – | 6(9.23) | – | – |
| Corynebacterium (13485) | 16.36P | 7(6.42) | 65(100) | – | 2(13.33) |
| Fusobacterium (2438396) | 2.44P | 1(0.92) | 6(9.23) | – | – |
| Haemophilus parainfluenzae (4473129) | 1.83I | 8(7.34) | 17(26.15) | – | 1(6.67) |
| Moraxella (1127280) | 1.63P | – | 4(6.15) | – | – |
| Mycobacterium (4448095) | 5.22P | 13(11.93) | 48(73.85) | 18(100) | – |
| Nocardia (102163) | 17.41P | 5(4.58) | 35(53.84) | 1(5.55) | – |
| Orientia tsutsugamushi (301131) | 19.57I | 3(2.75) | 13(20) | – | – |
| Staphylococcus (4446058) | 55.99I | 67(61.47) | 65(100) | 3(16.66) | 6(40) |
| Potential arthropod symbionts | |||||
| Candidatus Cardinium (New.ReferenceOTU10) | 19.06P | 2(1.83) | 18(27.69) | – | – |
| Neisseriaceae (933546) | 92.48P | 18(16.51) | 62(95.38) | 5(27.78) | 4(26.67) |
| Rickettsiella (8028) | 1.12P | 2(1.83) | 12(18.46) | – | – |
| Wolbachia (New.ReferenceOTU2936) | 2.32P | – | 2(3.08) | – | – |
| Other prevalent OTUs | |||||
| Acinetobacter rhizosphaerae (4334053) | 6.13P | 4(3.67) | 33(50.77) | – | – |
| Brevibacillus (3307468) | 60.37I | 61(55.96) | – | – | – |
| Burkholderia bryophila (4320353) | 1.27I | 38(34.86) | 2(3.07) | – | – |
| Geobacillus (New.ReferenceOTU5884) | 10.73I | 82(75.23) | – | – | – |
| Nevskia (516554) | 2.06I | 27(24.77) | 3(4.61) | 7(38.88) | – |
| Sphingobacterium multivorum (4423201) | 1.16I | 44(40.36) | 15(23.07) | – | 1(6.67) |
| Sphingobium (4393057) | 14.69I | 82(75.23) | 11(16.92) | 1(5.55) | – |
| Streptomyces (821185) | 59.26I | 2(1.83) | 13(20) | 1(5.55) | – |
| Methylobacterium adhaesivum (4303249) | 3.96I | 11(10.09) | 12(18.46) | – | – |
Only the OTUs with ≥5 reads were included. Superscript “I” or “P” indicate maximum OTU proportion values from individual or pooled chiggers, respectively. For source data and representative sequences, see Additional file 3