Use of migdut dissections and PCR blockers in the study of the eukaryotic microbiome of the black-legged tick

Bioinformatics is a field that can improve understanding of biological systems. In this study, DNA isolated from the black-legged tick (Ixodes scapularis) was analysed using QIIME2 microbiome bioinformatics software on the Cyverse platform. Use used PCR blockers and dissections were tested to reduce the amount of I. scapularis reads and thus allow for increased sequencing fungal and protist DNA reads