Viral Metagenomic Characterization of the Tick Virome in Tibet and Phylogenetic Analysis of Representative RNA Viruses

Viral metagenomic sequencing was used to characterize viral sequences in six pools comprising 90 ticks collected in Tibet in 2026. Viruses belonging to 35 families were identified based on read-level taxonomic assignments. Chuviridae, Phenuiviridae, and Rhabdoviridae were prominent RNA viral families in the pooled profiles. Five representative RNA viral sequences were examined by annotation and phylogenetic analysis: one Phenuiviridae-associated partial L-region sequence, two Chuviridae-associated sequences, and two Rhabdoviridae-associated partial L-region sequences. Their recovered L-protein regions were closely related to previously reported tick-associated viruses, with amino acid identities of 98.67–99.95% over the compared regions. The Phenuiviridae-associated sequence grouped with Uukuvirus-related sequences, the Chuviridae-associated sequences with Mivirus-related references, and the Rhabdoviridae-associated sequences near Deltarhabdovirinae references. Chu4909 has read coverage across the assembled sequence, but its circular configuration remains putative, and its topology and genome completeness remain unconfirmed. No novel viruses were identified in this study. These observations provide additional sequence data from Tibetan tick pools. The sequence detections were not independently confirmed by PCR/RT-PCR and do not establish individual-tick infection prevalence, active infection, or viral replication.