title: Presence of entomobirnaviruses in Chinese mosquitoes in the absence of Dengue virus co-infection.
abstract: Birnaviruses, including the genus Entomobirnavirus, are socio-economically important viruses. Currently, only Drosophila X virus has been formally assigned to the genus Entomobirnavirus, but two more viruses were recently isolated, Espirito Santo virus (ESV) and Culex Y virus. The host mosquito has been reported to carry many viruses, but seldom entomobirnaviruses. To discover potential pathogens in mosquitoes, we exploited small-RNAs high-throughput sequencing of three mosquito species caught in South China. A virus that genetically likes entomobirnavirus, Mosquito X virus (MXV), was identified from Anopheles sinensis and was 97% identical to ESV, which co-infects with Dengue virus (DENV). However, the absence of DENV in the A. sinensis suggested the independence of MXV infection from dengue co-infection. Our discovery complements prior research on entomobirnaviruses and proved that MXV may be widespread in mosquitoes on different continents. This work also highlights the applying of high-throughput sequencing of small RNAs to survey viruses carried by insect vectors.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, 20 Dong-Da Street, Fengtai District, Beijing 100071, PR China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, 20 Dong-Da Street, Fengtai District, Beijing 100071, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhiqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Mi
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, 20 Dong-Da Street, Fengtai District, Beijing 100071, PR China.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, 20 Dong-Da Street, Fengtai District, Beijing 100071, PR China.
authors.forename: Maijuan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, 20 Dong-Da Street, Fengtai District, Beijing 100071, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiaoping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: An
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, 20 Dong-Da Street, Fengtai District, Beijing 100071, PR China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, 20 Dong-Da Street, Fengtai District, Beijing 100071, PR China.
authors.forename: Wuchun
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, 20 Dong-Da Street, Fengtai District, Beijing 100071, PR China.
authors.forename: Yigang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tong
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000821:virology*; D002681:China; D003465:Culex / Q000821:virology*; D003716:Dengue Virus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D019203:Entomobirnavirus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015967:Gene Expression Regulation, Viral; D016679:Genome, Viral; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral; D014764:Viral Proteins