Characterization of the virome associated with Haemagogus mosquitoes in Trinidad, West Indies

Abstract

Currently, there are increasing concerns about the possibility of a new epidemic due to emerging reports of Mayaro virus (MAYV) fever outbreaks in areas of South and Central America. Haemagogus mosquitoes, the primary sylvan vectors of MAYV are poorly characterized and a better understanding of the mosquito’s viral transmission dynamics and interactions with MAYV and other microorganisms would be important in devising effective control strategies. In this study, a metatranscriptomic based approach was utilized to determine the prevalence of RNA viruses in field-caught mosquitoes morphologically identified as Haemagogus janthinomys from twelve (12) forest locations in Trinidad, West Indies. Known insect specific viruses including the Phasi Charoen-like and Humaiata-Tubiacanga virus dominated the virome of the mosquitoes throughout sampling locations while other viruses such as the avian leukosis virus, MAYV and several unclassified viruses had a narrower distribution. Additionally, assembled contigs from the Ecclesville location suggests the presence of a unique uncharacterized picorna-like virus. Mapping of RNA sequencing reads to reference mitochondrial sequences of potential feeding host animals showed hits against avian and rodent sequences, which putatively adds to the growing body of evidence of a potentially wide feeding host-range for the Haemagogus mosquito vector.

Composition and global distribution of the mosquito virome - A comprehensive database of insect-specific viruses

“…3 ) and included several of the most widespread viruses, including Culex rhabdo-like virus and Merida virus for Culex mosquitoes, Ohlsdorf virus and Riverside virus 1 for Aedes mosquitoes, and Beaumont virus and Wuhan mosquito virus 9 for Anopheles mosquitoes, which were each detected in at least three countries ( Table 2 , Table 3 , Table 4 ). Notably, Merida virus has been found in four continents and in mosquito species of the genera Culex , Aedes and Heamagogus [ 32 , 33 , 40 , 66 , 79 , 82 ].…”

“…Phenuiviridae was among the most frequently detected virus families in Aedes mosquitoes due to the high prevalence of Phasi Charoen-like virus, which contributed 60% of the entries of this family. Phasi Charoen-like virus is one of the most widespread viruses in Aedes aegypti specifically ( Table 3 ), although it was also detected in Aedes albopictus [ 32 ] , Culex quinquefasciatus [ 86 ], Haemagogus janthinomys [ 82 ] and Anopheles mosquitoes [ 87 ].…”

Metagenomic analysis reveals novel dietary-related viruses in the gut virome of marmosets hybrids (Callithrix jacchus x Callithrix penicillata), Brazil

“…Therefore, it is conceivable to assume that the abundance of insect-related viruses in our samples is a reflection of the marmoset insectivorous diet (Pickett et al, 2012). Noticeably, most of the novel sequences related to insect viruses have low genetic identities with known viruses, indicating that a number of novel viruses exist in the largely uncharacterized virome of Neotropical insect populations (Ali et al, 2021;Maia et al, 2019;Scarpassa et al, 2019). In addition, the virome of marmosets' feces was very similar to that observed in the oral cavity of free-living capuchin monkeys (Sapajus nigritus) (Dos Santos et al, 2020).…”

Bacterial diversity in Haemagogus leucocelaenus (Diptera: Culicidae) from Vale do Ribeira, São Paulo, Brazil

“…leucocelaenus from all three sites in the Vale do Ribeira. This bacterial genus was also found in Haemagogus mosquitoes from four forest locations in Trinidad, West Indies and seems to have strong evidence of association with these mosquitoes [ 50 ]. Despite the finding that Wolbachia is not found naturally in Ae.…”