Blocking primer improves detection of tick-borne pathogens in Ixodes scapularis (black-legged ticks) from a Lyme disease hotspot region in eastern Ontario, Canada.
Sreevatshan K Srinivasan, Sima Afsharnezhad, Amber R. Paulson…·Robert I. Colautti
The paper introduces a blocking primer to improve detection of tick-borne pathogens in Ixodes scapularis ticks using 16S rRNA metabarcoding, achieving sensitivity comparable to qPCR and detecting additional pathogens.