title: Identification and Characterization of Two Novel RNA Viruses from Anopheles gambiae Species Complex Mosquitoes.
abstract: Mosquitoes of the Anopheles gambiae complex display strong preference for human bloodmeals and are major malaria vectors in Africa. However, their interaction with viruses or role in arbovirus transmission during epidemics has been little examined, with the exception of O'nyong-nyong virus, closely related to Chikungunya virus. Deep-sequencing has revealed different RNA viruses in natural insect viromes, but none have been previously described in the Anopheles gambiae species complex. Here, we describe two novel insect RNA viruses, a Dicistrovirus and a Cypovirus, found in laboratory colonies of An. gambiae taxa using small-RNA deep sequencing. Sequence analysis was done with Metavisitor, an open-source bioinformatic pipeline for virus discovery and de novo genome assembly. Wild-collected Anopheles from Senegal and Cambodia were positive for the Dicistrovirus and Cypovirus, displaying high sequence identity to the laboratory-derived virus. Thus, the Dicistrovirus (Anopheles C virus, AnCV) and Cypovirus (Anopheles Cypovirus, AnCPV) are components of the natural virome of at least some anopheline species. Their possible influence on mosquito immunity or transmission of other pathogens is unknown. These natural viruses could be developed as models for the study of Anopheles-RNA virus interactions in low security laboratory settings, in an analogous manner to the use of rodent malaria parasites for studies of mosquito anti-parasite immunity.
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur, Unit of Insect Vector Genetics and Genomics, Department of Parasites and Insect Vectors, 28 rue du Docteur Roux, Paris, 75015, France.|CNRS, Unit of Hosts, Vectors and Pathogens (URA3012), 28 rue du Docteur Roux, Paris, 75015, France.|Laboratory of Microbial Immunity, Singapore Immunology Network, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A(*)STAR), Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Guillaume
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Carissimo
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur, Unit of Insect Vector Genetics and Genomics, Department of Parasites and Insect Vectors, 28 rue du Docteur Roux, Paris, 75015, France.|CNRS, Unit of Hosts, Vectors and Pathogens (URA3012), 28 rue du Docteur Roux, Paris, 75015, France.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Eiglmeier
authors.affiliation: INRA, UMR 1309 CMAEE, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Reveillaud
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur, Unit of Insect Vector Genetics and Genomics, Department of Parasites and Insect Vectors, 28 rue du Docteur Roux, Paris, 75015, France.|CNRS, Unit of Hosts, Vectors and Pathogens (URA3012), 28 rue du Docteur Roux, Paris, 75015, France.
authors.forename: Inge
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Holm
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur de Dakar, Dakar, Senegal.
authors.forename: Mawlouth
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Diallo
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur de Dakar, Dakar, Senegal.
authors.forename: Diawo
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Diallo
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
authors.forename: Amélie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vantaux
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
authors.forename: Saorin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ménard
authors.affiliation: National Center for Parasitology Entomology and Malaria Control, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
authors.forename: Sovannaroth
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Siv
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur, Unit of Insect Vector Genetics and Genomics, Department of Parasites and Insect Vectors, 28 rue du Docteur Roux, Paris, 75015, France.|CNRS, Unit of Hosts, Vectors and Pathogens (URA3012), 28 rue du Docteur Roux, Paris, 75015, France.
authors.forename: Eugeni
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Belda
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur, Unit of Insect Vector Genetics and Genomics, Department of Parasites and Insect Vectors, 28 rue du Docteur Roux, Paris, 75015, France.|CNRS, Unit of Hosts, Vectors and Pathogens (URA3012), 28 rue du Docteur Roux, Paris, 75015, France.
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bischoff
authors.affiliation: Sorbonne Universités, UPMC University of Paris 06, CNRS UMR 7622 Institut de Biologie Paris Seine, Drosophila Genetics and Epigenetics, F-75005, Paris, France.|Sorbonne Universités, UPMC University of Paris 06, CNRS FR3631 Institut de Biologie Paris Seine, ARTbio Bioinformatics Analysis Facility, F-75005, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Antoniewski
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur, Unit of Insect Vector Genetics and Genomics, Department of Parasites and Insect Vectors, 28 rue du Docteur Roux, Paris, 75015, France.|CNRS, Unit of Hosts, Vectors and Pathogens (URA3012), 28 rue du Docteur Roux, Paris, 75015, France.|Department of Microbiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55108, United States of America.
authors.forename: Kenneth D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Vernick
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000821:virology*; D056629:Dicistroviridae / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology*; D058507:Host Specificity; D010802:Phylogeny; D012087:Reoviridae / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology*