Abstract
Zika virus (ZIKV) is a global public health emergency due to its association with microcephaly, Guillain-Barré syndrome, neuropathy, and myelitis in children and adults. A total of 87 countries have had evidence of autochthonous mosquito-borne transmission of ZIKV, distributed across four continents, and no antivirus therapy or vaccines are available. Therefore, several strategies have been developed to target the main mosquito vector, Aedes aegypti, to reduce the burden of different arboviruses. Among such strategies, the use of the maternally-inherited endosymbiont Wolbachia pipientis has been applied successfully to reduce virus susceptibility and decrease transmission. However, the mechanisms by which Wolbachia orchestrate resistance to ZIKV infection remain to be elucidated. In this study, we apply isobaric labeling quantitative mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics to quantify proteins and identify pathways altered during ZIKV infection; Wolbachia infection; co-infection with Wolbachia/ZIKV in the A. aegypti heads and salivary glands. We show that Wolbachia regulates proteins involved in reactive oxygen species production, regulates humoral immune response, and antioxidant production. The reduction of ZIKV polyprotein in the presence of Wolbachia in mosquitoes was determined by MS and corroborates the idea that Wolbachia helps to block ZIKV infections in A. aegypti. The present study offers a rich resource of data that may help to elucidate mechanisms by which Wolbachia orchestrate resistance to ZIKV infection in A. aegypti, and represents a step further on the development of new targeted methods to detect and quantify ZIKV and Wolbachia directly in complex tissues.
Highlights
Zika virus (ZIKV) is a single-stranded RNA virus that belongs to the Flavivirus genus and Flaviviridae family
For ZIKV peptides abundance comparison, statistical analysis was performed in experimental groups using T-test analysis (95% confidence values, p < 0.05), for differential proteins was used one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey’s multiple comparisons post-test (95% confidence values, p < 0.05) in Graphpad Prism 8.0.0 for Windows, GraphPad Software, San Diego, CA, United States, www.graphpad.com
Proteomics has improved in recent years, especially considering its coverage and sensitivity, which offer more opportunities to study changes in the global proteome of complex tissues (Aebersold and Mann, 2016)
Summary
Zika virus (ZIKV) is a single-stranded RNA virus that belongs to the Flavivirus genus and Flaviviridae family. It has high vector competence to arboviruses, like ZIKV, while the Wolbachia transinfected mosquitoes have reduced susceptibility and decreased transmission (Hoffmann et al, 2011). Protein quantification on a genome-wide scale allows a systemic bird’s-eye view of protein variation and pathway regulation under different conditions and samples (Choudhary and Mann, 2010) It helps to highlight some features and emergent properties of complex systems, which could be obscured when the analysis is performed only from a reductionist point of view. We use an isobaric labeling-based quantitative proteomic strategy to interrogate the interaction between the Wolbachia wMel strain and ZIKV infection in A. aegypti heads and salivary glands. We describe and discuss proteins and pathways altered in A. aegypti during ZIKV infections, Wolbachia infections, co-infection Wolbachia/ZIKV, and compared with no infection
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
