The lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum, is the most common tick in Georgia. It is mainly known as an Ehrlichia spp. vector, but its microbiome can be diverse, depending on geography, developmental stage, and season. Little is known about bacterial diversity in ticks from the southeastern U.S. A Nanopore MinION sequencer was used to analyze the bacterial microbiome in A. americanum from the Statesboro region. DNA was extracted from 35 nymphs, 39 males, and 39 females. DNA samples were pooled by month of collection and life stage/sex, amplified with barcoded 16SrDNA primers, and sequenced. Approx. 77% of the identified genera corresponded to environmental microbiota. Bacterial genera, commonly associated with ticks, such as Anaplasma, Ehrlichia, Rickettsia, Borrelia, Coxiella, and Rickettsiella, were detected with variable prevalence rates. Borrelia spp. was found only in males from March, while Rickettsia, Coxiella, and Rickettsiella were found in all genders/ life stages and months.
