title: Eilat virus induces both homologous and heterologous interference.
abstract: Most alphaviruses are mosquito-borne and exhibit a broad host range, infecting many different vertebrates including birds, rodents, equids, and humans. Occasionally, alphaviruses can spill over into the human population and cause disease characterized by debilitating arthralgia or fatal encephalitis. Recently, a unique alphavirus, Eilat virus (EILV), was described that readily infects mosquito but not vertebrate cell lines. Here, we investigated the ability of EILV to induce superinfection exclusion. Prior infection of C7/10 (Aedes albopictus) cells with EILV induced homologous and heterologous interference, reducing the virus titers of heterologous superinfecting viruses (SINV, VEEV, EEEV, WEEV, and CHIKV) by ~10-10,000 fold and delaying replication kinetics by 12-48h. Similar to in vitro infection, prior in vivo EILV infection of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes delayed dissemination of chikungunya virus for 3 days. This is the first evidence of heterologous interference induced by a mosquito-specific alphavirus in vitro and in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Human Infections and Immunity, Center for Tropical Diseases, and Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, 301 University Blvd., Galveston, TX 77555, USA; Virology Division, United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, 1425 Porter Street, Frederick, MD 21702, USA(1).
authors.forename: Farooq
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nasar
authors.affiliation: Institute for Human Infections and Immunity, Center for Tropical Diseases, and Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, 301 University Blvd., Galveston, TX 77555, USA.
authors.forename: Jesse H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Erasmus
authors.affiliation: Virology Division, United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, 1425 Porter Street, Frederick, MD 21702, USA(1).
authors.forename: Andrew D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Haddow
authors.affiliation: Institute for Human Infections and Immunity, Center for Tropical Diseases, and Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, 301 University Blvd., Galveston, TX 77555, USA.
authors.forename: Robert B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Tesh
authors.affiliation: Institute for Human Infections and Immunity, Center for Tropical Diseases, and Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, 301 University Blvd., Galveston, TX 77555, USA. Electronic address: sweaver@utmb.edu.
authors.forename: Scott C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Weaver
mesh_terms: D000330:Aedes / Q000821:virology*; D000524:Alphavirus / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D014762:Viral Interference
keywords: Alphavirus; Eilat virus; Superinfection