title: West African Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes harbor a taxonomically diverse virome including new insect-specific flaviviruses, mononegaviruses, and totiviruses.
abstract: Anopheles gambiae are a major vector of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. Viruses that naturally infect these mosquitoes may impact their physiology and ability to transmit pathogens. We therefore used metagenomics sequencing to search for viruses in adult Anopheles mosquitoes collected from Liberia, Senegal, and Burkina Faso. We identified a number of virus and virus-like sequences from mosquito midgut contents, including 14 coding-complete genome segments and 26 partial sequences. The coding-complete sequences define new viruses in the order Mononegavirales, and the families Flaviviridae, and Totiviridae. The identification of a flavivirus infecting Anopheles mosquitoes broadens our understanding of the evolution and host range of this virus family. This study increases our understanding of virus diversity in general, begins to define the virome of a medically important vector in its natural setting, and lays groundwork for future studies examining the potential impact of these viruses on anopheles biology and disease transmission.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Fauver
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.
authors.forename: Nathan D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Grubaugh
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.
authors.forename: Benjamin J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Krajacich
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Weger-Lucarelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.
authors.forename: Steven M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Lakin
authors.affiliation: Liberian Institute for Biomedical Research, Charlesville, Liberia.
authors.forename: Lawrence S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Fakoli
authors.affiliation: Liberian Institute for Biomedical Research, Charlesville, Liberia.
authors.forename: Fatorma K
authors.initials: FK
authors.lastname: Bolay
authors.affiliation: United States Naval Medical Research Unit No. 3, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Joseph W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Diclaro
authors.affiliation: Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé, Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
authors.forename: Kounbobr Roch
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Dabiré
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.
authors.forename: Brian D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Foy
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.
authors.forename: Doug E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Brackney
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA. Electronic address: Gregory.Ebel@colostate.edu.
authors.forename: Gregory D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Ebel
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA. Electronic address: Mark.Stenglein@colostate.edu.
authors.forename: Mark D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Stenglein
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000821:virology*; D044822:Biodiversity; D002050:Burkina Faso; D005416:Flavivirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D005814:Genes, Viral; D016679:Genome, Viral; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000821:virology; D007304:Insect Viruses / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D007988:Liberia; D054892:Metagenome; D056186:Metagenomics; D064307:Microbiota; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D010802:Phylogeny; D012328:RNA Viruses / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D012675:Senegal; D019197:Totivirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics
keywords: Anopheles gambiae; Arthropod viruses; Bioinformatics; Flavivirus; Metagenomics; Mononegavirus; Pathogen discovery; Surveillance; Totivirus; Virome; Virus discovery