Abstract
The Mesoniviridae are a newly assigned family of viruses in the order Nidovirales. Unlike other nidoviruses, which include the Coronaviridae, mesoniviruses are restricted to mosquito hosts and do not infect vertebrate cells. To date there is little information on the morphological and antigenic characteristics of this new group of viruses and a dearth of mesonivirus-specific research tools. In this study we determined the genetic relationships of recent Australian isolates of Alphamesonivirus 4 (Casuarina virus—CASV) and Alphamesonivirus 1 (Nam Dinh virus—NDiV), obtained from multiple mosquito species. Australian isolates of NDiV showed high-level similarity to the prototype NDiV isolate from Vietnam (99% nucleotide (nt) and amino acid (aa) identity). Isolates of CASV from Central Queensland were genetically very similar to the prototype virus from Darwin (95–96% nt and 91–92% aa identity). Electron microscopy studies demonstrated that virion diameter (≈80 nm) and spike length (≈10 nm) were similar for both viruses. Monoclonal antibodies specific to CASV and NDiV revealed a close antigenic relationship between the two viruses with 13/34 mAbs recognising both viruses. We also detected NDiV RNA on honey-soaked nucleic acid preservation cards fed on by wild mosquitoes supporting a possible mechanism of horizontal transmission between insects in nature.
Highlights
The order Nidovirales includes four genetically diverse families—Coronaviridae, Arteriviridae, Roniviridae and Mesoniviridae
Coquillitidia xanthogaster mosquitoes collected in Darwin, Northern Territory, had been described from Australia [3]
A total of 79 mesonivirus isolates were obtained; 11 isolates of CASV from Culex annulirostris, Aedes vigilax and Aedes procax collected in northern Queensland (QLD), and 68 isolates of NDiV
Summary
The order Nidovirales includes four genetically diverse families—Coronaviridae, Arteriviridae, Roniviridae and Mesoniviridae. Nidoviruses are enveloped viruses containing positive-sense single-stranded RNA (+ssRNA) genomes ranging in length from ≈12 to 31 kb [1,2]. Some nidoviruses are human pathogens (e.g., SARS-CoV-1, SARS-CoV-2 and MERS), while others are pathogens of other mammals, birds, fish and crustaceans. Mesoniviridae represent a unique nidovirus family due to the restriction of their replication to only insects [3,4]. The members of the type species, Alphamesonivirus 1, include Nam Dinh virus (NDiV), isolated from mosquitoes captured in Vietnam in 2004 [5] and the independently discovered Cavally virus (CavV) from Côte d’Ivoire (2004) [6]. Eight additional mesonivirus species that have been isolated from mosquitoes of various genera, have since been classified
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