Abstract
Phylogenetic evidence suggests that endemic and epidemic dengue viruses (DENV), transmitted among humans by the anthropophilic mosquitoes Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus, emerged when ancestral, sylvatic DENV transmitted among nonhuman primates by sylvatic Aedes mosquitoes adapted to these peridomestic vectors. We tested this hypothesis by retrospectively examining evidence for adaptation of epidemic and endemic versus sylvatic strains of DENV-2 to Ae. albopictus and Ae. aegypti. First and second-generation offspring of mosquitoes from different geographic regions in the Americas and Southeast Asia were tested for their susceptibility to epidemic/endemic and sylvatic DENV-2 isolates from West Africa, Southeast Asia, and Oceania. Both Aedes species were highly susceptible (up to 100% infected) to endemic/epidemic DENV-2 strains after ingesting artificial blood meals but significantly less susceptible (as low as 0%) to sylvatic DENV-2 strains. Our findings support the hypothesis that adaptation to peridomestic mosquito vectors mediated dengue emergence from sylvatic progenitor viruses.
Highlights
Phylogenetic evidence suggests that endemic and epidemic dengue viruses (DENV), transmitted among humans by the anthropophilic mosquitoes Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus, emerged when ancestral, sylvatic DENV transmitted among nonhuman primates by sylvatic Aedes mosquitoes adapted to these peridomestic vectors
Humans occasionally become infected with sylvatic DENV in West Africa and perhaps in Asia, they are tangential to the maintenance cycle, which involves sylvatic Aedes spp. mosquito vectors and nonhuman primates as reservoir hosts
Overall Trends In general, in the 701 peridomestic mosquitoes from four localities used in this study, we found high susceptibility to endemic DENV-2 isolates but much less susceptibility to sylvatic strains
Summary
Phylogenetic evidence suggests that endemic and epidemic dengue viruses (DENV), transmitted among humans by the anthropophilic mosquitoes Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus, emerged when ancestral, sylvatic DENV transmitted among nonhuman primates by sylvatic Aedes mosquitoes adapted to these peridomestic vectors. (D.) furcifer [10]; in Malaysia, Ae. niveus has been implicated in transmission [8,9] These sylvatic cycles, probably involving only DENV-2 in West Africa but all four serotypes in Malaysia, are believed to represent the ancestral DENV cycles from which epidemic/endemic ( referred to as endemic) strains of DENV-1–4 evolved independently hundreds to thousands of years ago [11]. Humans occasionally become infected with sylvatic DENV in West Africa and perhaps in Asia, they are tangential to the maintenance cycle, which involves sylvatic Aedes spp. mosquito vectors and nonhuman primates as reservoir hosts. These urban cycles are ecologically and evolutionarily independent of the ancestral sylvatic cycles, with humans serving as reservoir hosts
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