Year: 2016
Type: article
Abstract: Purpose: Mosquitoes are among the most frequently-observed arthropod vectors, with the potential to transmit several viral diseases of significant human health impact. In addition to the viruses associated with vertebrate infections, several viruses belonging to diverse viral families have been identified in mosquito populations, suggesting the frequent circulation of these agents. In this study, a metagenomic sequencing approach was utilized to investigate the abundance and diversity of viruses that replicate in mosquitoes, collected during a field surveillance campaign in Turkey. Methods & Materials: Four mosquito pools that comprise 13-45 individuals of Culex pipiens sensu lato (n=2) and Aedes caspius (n=2) mosquitoes, collected in Mediterranean and Thrace regions during 2015 were evaluated. The pools were processed via standard protocols employed for virus isolation and subjected to sequencing on an Illumina HiSeq 1500 platform. Sequences were analyzed with a workflow for the identification of highly divergent viruses that include trimming for quality reads, substraction of irrelevant sequences, alignment, taxonomic binning and visualization steps, and further assembled into contigs and near-complete genomes. Results: In an Ae. caspius pool, previously positive for flavivirus screening, sequences belonging to an Ochlerotatus caspius flavivirus were identified. Negevvirus sequences were detected in two Culex pipiens pools, originating from different regions. In the Culex pipiens pool from Thrace region, complete genome of a rhabdovirus, closely-related to Merida virus, a putative novel rhabdovirus recently-identified in Cx. quinquefasciatus mosquitoes and in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, was characterized. The assembled sequence comprised over 11800 nucleotides and demonstrated 83% sequence similarity to Merida virus in pairwise comparison. Conclusion: Viral metagenomic analysis can overcome the limitation of standard methods in virus screening and proves to be an effective approach for investigating the potential viral diversity associated with field-collected mosquitoes. The employed approach have resulted in characterization of negevvirus and Culex rhabdoviruses for the first time in mosqutoes from Turkey.
Authors: K. Ergunay, A. Brinkmann, F. Gunay, S. Kar, K. Oter, S. Orsten, Y. Sarıkaya, B. Alten, A. Nitsche, Y.-M. Linton
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,900
OpenAlex ID: W2561425830