Fig. 2

The impact of skin microbiome on pathogenic SFG rickettsial horizontal transmission. A R. raoultii load in the skin of Balb/C mice fed by positive (cohorts 1 and 2) or negative tick cohorts (cohort 3) respectively. The grey represents R. raoultii negative in skin while the gradient red represents positives with different bacterial loads. B The relative abundance of skin bacteria at genus level from different groups of Balb/C mice fed by R. raoultii positive or negative tick cohorts. R. raoultii positive vs negative skins from Balb/C mice fed by the same positive cohort 1 were also compared. C The relative abundance of Chlamydia increased significantly in skins with R. raoultii positive transmission than in ones with negative. D Correlation network of 12 most abundant bacterial genera. The thickness of lines represents the values of R square. E Comparison of alpha diversity (the Shannon index) of skin microbiome between paired tick-bitten and unbitten sites. F The relative abundance of skin microbiome between paired tick-bitten and unbitten sites. G The significantly altered skin bacteria between paired tick-bitten and unbitten sites. H PCoA of skin microbiome between paired tick-bitten and unbitten sites