Identification of potential new mosquito-associated viruses of adult Aedes aegypti mosquitoes from Tocantins state, Brazil

Machado

et al. 2023

Preprint

Mosquitoes can transmit several pathogenic viruses to humans, but their natural viral community is also composed of many insect-specific viruses (ISV) that modulate arthropod-borne virus (arbovirus) transmission and mosquito fitness. Besides a growing number of studies investigating the mosquito virome the majority are focused on few urban species and relatively little is known about the virome of sylvatic mosquitoes. Here, we characterized the RNA virome of 10 sylvatic mosquitos species from Atlantic forest remains at a sylvatic-urban interface in Northeast Brazil employing a metatranscriptomic approach. We detected a total of 21 viral families. The phylogenetic reconstructions of 13 viral families revealed that the majority of the sequences are putative ISVs. The phylogenetic positioning and, in most cases, the association with a high RdRp amino acid divergence from other known viruses suggests that the viruses characterized here represent 60 new viral species. Therefore, the sylvatic mosquitoes viral community revealed a predominance of highly divergent viruses highlighting the limited knowledge we still have about the natural virome that infect these blood feeding insects. Moreover, we found a strong species-virome association as none of the viruses recovered were shared between the species investigated. These background findings will help to understand the interactions and coevolution between mosquitoes and viruses in nature.

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Highly divergent and diverse viral community infecting sylvatic mosquitoes from Northeast Brazil

Machado

et al. 2023

Preprint

“…In mosquitoes, two other Errantivirus species, named Aedes aegypti To virus 1 and Aedes aegypti To virus 2, have already been identified in Ae. aegypti from Tocantins, North Brazil [50].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shotgun Metagenomic Sequencing Reveals Virome Composition of Mosquitoes from a Transition Ecosystem of North-Northeast Brazil

Aragão

Nascimento

et al. 2023

Genes

A wide diversity of pathogenic mosquito-borne viruses circulate in the Brazilian Amazon, and the intense deforestation can contribute to the spread of these viruses. In this context, this study aimed to investigate the viral diversity in mosquitoes of the genera Aedes, Culex, Haemagogus, and Sabethes from a transition area between the Amazon, Cerrado, and Caatinga biomes in Brazil. Metagenomic high-throughput sequencing was used to characterize the virome of 20 mosquito pools. A total of 15 virus-like genomes were identified, comprising species genomically close to insect-specific viruses of the families Iflaviridae, Metaviridae, Lispiviridae, Rhabdoviridae, Xinmoviridae, and Parvoviridae and species of plant viruses of the families Solemoviridae, Virgaviridae, and Partitiviridae. However, sequences of viruses associated with human and animal diseases were not detected. Most of the recovered genomes were divergent from those previously described. These findings reveal that there are a large number of unknown viruses to be explored in the middle-north of Brazil.

“…A. aegypti and A. albopictus are commonly infected with ISVs ( Supplementary Figure 2 and Supplementary Table 1 ) (Hoshino et al, 2009 ; Rizzo et al, 2014 ; Vasilakis et al, 2014 ; Chandler et al, 2015 ; Fan et al, 2016 ; Fernandes et al, 2016 ; Sadeghi et al, 2017 ; Ajamma et al, 2018 ; Fang et al, 2018 , 2021a , b ; Iwashita et al, 2018 ; Parry et al, 2018 , 2021 ; Zakrzewski et al, 2018 ; Zhang et al, 2018 ; Gravina et al, 2019 ; Martin et al, 2019 , 2020 ; Shi et al, 2019 ; Baidaliuk et al, 2020 ; da Silva Ferreira et al, 2020 ; Diagne et al, 2020 ; Jeffries et al, 2020 ; Kubacki et al, 2020 ; Ramos-Nino et al, 2020 ; Ribeiro et al, 2020 ; Supriyono et al, 2020 ; Thannesberger et al, 2020 ; Batson et al, 2021 ; Chiuya et al, 2021 ; Hameed et al, 2021 ; He et al, 2021 ; Munivenkatappa et al, 2021 ; Nebbak et al, 2021 ; Yezli et al, 2021 ; Calle-Tobón et al, 2022 ; Coatsworth et al, 2022 ; Duarte et al, 2022 ; Oguzie et al, 2022 ; Palatini et al, 2022 ; Aragão et al, 2023 ; Bennouna et al, 2023 ) that may alter their vectorial competence (Bolling et al, 2015 ; Öhlund et al, 2019 ). Phasi Charoen-like virus (PCLV) and Humaita Tubiacanga virus (HTV) are common ISVs found in A. aegypti , and A. albopictus ( Supplementary Figure 2 ).…”

Section: Mosquitoes and Arbovirusmentioning

confidence: 99%

A tangled threesome: understanding arbovirus infection in Aedes spp. and the effect of the mosquito microbiota

Mantilla-Granados,

Castellanos,

Velandia-Romero

2024

Front. Microbiol.

Arboviral infections transmitted by Aedes spp. mosquitoes are a major threat to human health, particularly in tropical regions but are expanding to temperate regions. The ability of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus to transmit multiple arboviruses involves a complex relationship between mosquitoes and the virus, with recent discoveries shedding light on it. Furthermore, this relationship is not solely between mosquitoes and arboviruses, but also involves the mosquito microbiome. Here, we aimed to construct a comprehensive review of the latest information about the arbovirus infection process in A. aegypti and A. albopictus, the source of mosquito microbiota, and its interaction with the arbovirus infection process, in terms of its implications for vectorial competence. First, we summarized studies showing a new mechanism for arbovirus infection at the cellular level, recently described innate immunological pathways, and the mechanism of adaptive response in mosquitoes. Second, we addressed the general sources of the Aedes mosquito microbiota (bacteria, fungi, and viruses) during their life cycle, and the geographical reports of the most common microbiota in adults mosquitoes. How the microbiota interacts directly or indirectly with arbovirus transmission, thereby modifying vectorial competence. We highlight the complexity of this tripartite relationship, influenced by intrinsic and extrinsic conditions at different geographical scales, with many gaps to fill and promising directions for developing strategies to control arbovirus transmission and to gain a better understanding of vectorial competence. The interactions between mosquitoes, arboviruses and their associated microbiota are yet to be investigated in depth.