Degree Final Project defended by Gonzalo Pérez Serrano

July 5^th, 2022

Ricekttsioses are a group of emerging zoonotic pathologies caused by bacteria of the genus Rickettsia. These bacteria are Gram-negative, intracellular bacillococci, and the diseases they produce are transmitted to vertebrates by vectors such as ticks, mites, fleas and lice. Due to their highly conserved genome, there are limitations in the identification of the different species of rickettsiae. In this work, the molecular detection of bacteria of the genus Rickettsia in ticks has been carried out by performing conventional PCR and sequencing of the ompA and ompB genes, which is a laborious and costly process. Therefore, as an alternative, a High Resolution Melting (HRM) technique designed de novo to distinguish Rickettsia species has been developed as a faster, more accurate and cheaper technique. The sequencing of the ompA and ompB genes allowed the identification of the species R. slovaca, R. raoultii and R. massilae, frequent species in ticks in Spain. However, the developed HRM technique was not successful because it was not possible to distinguish Rickettsia species. Further research is needed in the future to find fast and efficient methods to identify and differentiate Rickettsia species