Abstract
.Three novel insect-specific flaviviruses, isolated from mosquitoes collected in Peru, Malaysia (Sarawak), and the United States, are characterized. The new viruses, designated La Tina, Kampung Karu, and Long Pine Key, respectively, are antigenically and phylogenetically more similar to the mosquito-borne flavivirus pathogens, than to the classical insect-specific viruses like cell fusing agent and Culex flavivirus. The potential implications of this relationship and the possible uses of these and other arbovirus-related insect-specific flaviviruses are reviewed.
Highlights
During the past two decades, there has been a dramatic increase in the discovery and characterization of novel insectspecific viruses (ISVs).[1,2,3] This has coincided with advances in molecular tools for virus detection and the growing interest in insect microbiomes
To determine if La Tina virus (LTNV), Long Pine Key virus (LPKV), and Kampung Karu virus (KPKV) replication occurred in vertebrate cells without producing cytopathic effect (CPE), additional experiments were carried out in C6/36, Vero, and BHK cell cultures to assay for virus replication by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)
The cISVs show little or no antigenic relationship with the flavivirus vertebrate pathogens in the main tree
Summary
During the past two decades, there has been a dramatic increase in the discovery and characterization of novel insectspecific viruses (ISVs).[1,2,3] This has coincided with advances in molecular tools for virus detection and the growing interest in insect microbiomes. Many of the new ISVs appear to be members of the family Flaviviridae, genus Flavivirus, and are common in insect populations in nature, with a worldwide geographic distribution. The terms “insect-specific” or “insect-restricted” viruses in current usage generally refer to viruses that naturally infect hematophagous Diptera and that replicate in mosquito cells in vitro, but do not replicate in vertebrate cells or infect humans or other vertebrates.[1] This is in contrast to the classical arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) that are maintained principally, or to an important extent, through biological transmission between susceptible vertebrate hosts by hematophagous arthropods.[4] The arboviruses are dual host (vertebrate and arthropod) viruses, whereas the ISVs appear to involve only hematophagous insects
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