title: 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.
authors.affiliation: College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, Florida, United States of America.
authors.forename: Terry Fei Fan
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.forename: Dana L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Willner
authors.forename: Yan Wei
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schmieder
authors.forename: Betty
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chau
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nilsson
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Anthony
authors.forename: Yijun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ruan
authors.forename: Forest
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rohwer
authors.forename: Mya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Breitbart
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D044822:Biodiversity; D009033:Culicidae / Q000821:virology*; D004267:DNA Viruses / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D016679:Genome, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000821:virology; D056186:Metagenomics / Q000379:methods*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010942:Plant Viruses / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral