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Identification and RNAi Profile of a Novel Iflavirus Infecting Senegalese <i>Aedes vexans arabiensis</i> Mosquitoes
oleh: Rhys Parry, Fanny Naccache, El Hadji Ndiaye, Gamou Fall, Ilaria Castelli, Renke Lühken, Jolyon Medlock, Benjamin Cull, Jenny C. Hesson, Fabrizio Montarsi, Anna-Bella Failloux, Alain Kohl, Esther Schnettler, Mawlouth Diallo, Sassan Asgari, Isabelle Dietrich, Stefanie C. Becker
Format: | Article |
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Diterbitkan: | MDPI AG 2020-04-01 |
Deskripsi
The inland floodwater mosquito <i>Aedes vexans</i> (Meigen, 1830) is a competent vector of numerous arthropod-borne viruses such as Rift Valley fever virus (<i>Phenuiviridae</i>) and Zika virus (<i>Flaviviridae</i>). <i>Aedes vexans</i> spp. have widespread Afrotropical distribution and are common European cosmopolitan mosquitoes. We examined the virome of <i>Ae. vexans arabiensis</i> samples from Barkédji village, Senegal, with small RNA sequencing, bioinformatic analysis, and RT-PCR screening. We identified a novel 9494 nt iflavirus (<i>Picornaviridae</i>) designated here as Aedes vexans iflavirus (AvIFV). Annotation of the AvIFV genome reveals a 2782 amino acid polyprotein with iflavirus protein domain architecture and typical iflavirus 5’ internal ribosomal entry site and 3’ poly-A tail. Aedes vexans iflavirus is most closely related to a partial virus sequence from <i>Venturia canescens</i> (a parasitoid wasp) with 56.77% pairwise amino acid identity. Analysis of AvIFV-derived small RNAs suggests that AvIFV is targeted by the exogenous RNA interference pathway but not the PIWI-interacting RNA response, as ~60% of AvIFV reads corresponded to 21 nt Dicer-2 virus-derived small RNAs and the 24–29 nt AvIFV read population did not exhibit a “ping-pong” signature. The RT-PCR screens of archival and current (circa 2011–2020) <i>Ae. vexans arabiensis</i> laboratory samples and wild-caught mosquitoes from Barkédji suggest that AvIFV is ubiquitous in these mosquitoes. Further, we screened wild-caught European <i>Ae. vexans</i> samples from Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Sweden, all of which tested negative for AvIFV RNA. This report provides insight into the diversity of commensal <i>Aedes</i> viruses and the host RNAi response towards iflaviruses.