Endosymbiotic bacteria living inside the poultry red mite (Dermanyssus gallinae)

This study investigated the endosymbiotic bacteria living inside the poultry red mite collected from five samples of one commercial farm from the UK and 16 farms from France using genus-specific PCR, PCR-TTGE and DNA sequencing. Endosymbiotic bacteria are intracellular obligate organisms that can cause several phenotypic and reproductive anomalies to their host and they are found widespread living inside arthropods. The farm sampled from the UK was positive for bacteria of the genera Cardinium sp. and Spiroplasma sp. From France, 7 farms were positive for Cardinium sp., 1 farm was positive for Spiroplasma sp., 1 farm was positive for Rickettsiella sp. and 2 farms were positive for Schineria sp. However, it was not possible to detect the presence of the genus Wolbachia sp. which has been observed in other ectoparasites. This study is the first report of the presence of endosymbionts living inside the poultry red mite. The results obtained suggest that it may be possible that these bacterial endosymbionts cause biological modifications to the poultry red mite.