title: Laboratory strains of Aedes aegypti are competent to Brazilian Zika virus.
abstract: The Zika virus outbreaks are unprecedented human threat in relation to congenital malformations and neurological/autoimmune complications. Since this virus has high potential to spread in regions presenting the vectors, improvement in mosquito control is a top priority. Thus, Aedes aegypti laboratory strains will be fundamental to support studies in different research fields implicated on Zika-mosquito interactions which are the basis for the development of innovative control methods. In this sense, our aim was to determine the main infection aspects of a Brazilian Zika strain in reference Aedes aegypti laboratory mosquitoes. We orally exposed Rockefeller, Higgs and Rexville mosquitoes to the Brazilian ZIKV (ZIKVBR) and qRT-PCR was applied to determine the infection, dissemination and detection rates of ZIKV in the collected saliva as well as viral levels in mosquito tissues. The three strains sustain the virus development but Higgs showed significantly lower viral loads in bodies at 14 days post-infection (dpi) and the lowest prevalences in bodies and heads. The Rockefeller strain was the most susceptible at 7 dpi but similar dissemination rates were observed at 14 dpi. Although variations exist, the ZIKVBR RNA shows detectable levels in saliva of the three strains at 14 dpi but is only detected in Rockefeller at 7 dpi. Moreover, saliva samples from the three strains were confirmed to be infectious when intrathoracically injected into mosquitoes. The ZIKVBR kinetics was monitored in Rockefeller mosquitoes and virus could be identified in the heads at 4 dpi but was more consistently detected late in infection. Our study presents the first evaluation on how Brazilian Zika virus behaves in reference Aedes aegypti strains and shed light on how the infection evolves over time. Vector competence and hallmarks of the ZIKVBR development were revealed in laboratory mosquitoes, providing additional information to accelerate studies focused on ZIKV-mosquito interactions.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil.|Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Entomologia Molecular, INCT-EM, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: André Luis
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7615-7376
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Costa-da-Silva
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil.|Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Entomologia Molecular, INCT-EM, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rafaella Sayuri
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Ioshino
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil.|Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Entomologia Molecular, INCT-EM, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Helena Rocha Corrêa de
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Araújo
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil.|Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Entomologia Molecular, INCT-EM, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Bianca Burini
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Kojin
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil.
authors.forename: Paolo Marinho de Andrade
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Zanotto
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil.
authors.forename: Danielle Bruna Leal
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil.
authors.forename: Stella Rezende
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Melo
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil.
authors.forename: Edison Luiz
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Durigon
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil.|Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Entomologia Molecular, INCT-EM, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Margareth Lara
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7480-2116
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Capurro
mesh_terms: D000330:Aedes / Q000145:classification / Q000821:virology*; D000818:Animals; D058507:Host Specificity; D006801:Humans; D000072138:Mosquito Vectors / Q000145:classification / Q000821:virology*; D000071244:Zika Virus / Q000145:classification / Q000472:pathogenicity*