Broad Surveys of DNA Viral Diversity Obtained through Viral Metagenomics of Mosquitoes

Abstract

Viruses are the most abundant and diverse genetic entities on Earth; however, broad surveys of viral diversity are hindered by the lack of a universal assay for viruses and the inability to sample a sufficient number of individual hosts. This study utilized vector-enabled metagenomics (VEM) to provide a snapshot of the diversity of DNA viruses present in three mosquito samples from San Diego, California. The majority of the sequences were novel, suggesting that the viral community in mosquitoes, as well as the animal and plant hosts they feed on, is highly diverse and largely uncharacterized. Each mosquito sample contained a distinct viral community. The mosquito viromes contained sequences related to a broad range of animal, plant, insect and bacterial viruses. Animal viruses identified included anelloviruses, circoviruses, herpesviruses, poxviruses, and papillomaviruses, which mosquitoes may have obtained from vertebrate hosts during blood feeding. Notably, sequences related to human papillomaviruses were identified in one of the mosquito samples. Sequences similar to plant viruses were identified in all mosquito viromes, which were potentially acquired through feeding on plant nectar. Numerous bacteriophages and insect viruses were also detected, including a novel densovirus likely infecting Culex erythrothorax. Through sampling insect vectors, VEM enables broad survey of viral diversity and has significantly increased our knowledge of the DNA viruses present in mosquitoes.

Diverse Array of New Viral Sequences Identified in Worldwide Populations of the Asian Citrus Psyllid (Diaphorina citri) Using Viral Metagenomics

“…Compared with the viral communities found among mosquitoes and bats by approaches similar to those used in this study (13,18,25,107,108), the diversity of viruses found in this agricultural pest insect was much lower. Obviously, host range of the target sampled can play an important role in the diversity of viral sequences detected.…”

“…Samples were collected in different geographic locations and at different times and probably reflect different ages of D. citri. We also do not know enough about the genetic diversity among the D. citri populations studied here, and it has been demonstrated that the viromes of mosquitoes and bats vary by species, age, space, time, and sample type (13,107).…”

“…Obviously, host range of the target sampled can play an important role in the diversity of viral sequences detected. Mosquitoes are blood-feeding arthropods and are known to feed on a wide range of sources, including humans, nonhuman primates, other mammals, birds, and even plant nectar (13,25). As the second most diverse group of mammals, bats are natural reservoirs of many emerging viruses and feed on a diverse array of biota (107,109,110).…”

Fungal DNA virus infects a mycophagous insect and utilizes it as a transmission vector

“…Surprisingly, gemycircularviruses are exceptionally widespread in nature. The DNA of SsHADV-1-like viruses was detected in a microbial community from the Sargasso Sea (18) and was found in fecal samples of unexplained human diarrhea (20) and in various animal feces (21)(22)(23), insects (such as mosquitoes, dragonflies, and damselflies) (19,(24)(25)(26), and plants (27). SsHADV-1-like viral DNA was found in human brain and serum samples from multiple sclerosis patients (28), in human HIV-positive blood (29), in the cerebrospinal fluids of Sri Lankan patients with unexplained encephalitis (20), in blood samples of experimental rats (30), and in the liver and spleen of a horse with fatal idiopathic hepatopathy (31).…”

Detecção e análise filogenética de vírus em melancia e construção de novos vetores virais para expressão de proteínas em células de inseto

“…Os vírus podem ser encontrados onde quer que a vida se faça presente e é provável que seja a mais abundante e diversificada forma de microrganismo no meio ambiente (Suttle, 2005;Ng et al, 2011a). Os vírus são agentes causadores de doenças em plantas e insetos economicamente importantes, bem como, em insetos-pragas e plantas invasoras .…”