Abstract
Many RNA viruses have recently emerged, threatening humans and causing harm to animals and plants. Bunyaviruses represent one of the largest groups of RNA viruses and are able to infect a wide range of hosts (invertebrates, vertebrates, and plants). Recently, new insect-specific viruses have been isolated from mosquitoes and phlebotomine sandflies worldwide. Little is known regarding the impact of these viruses on the vector life cycles and the stages of oviposition, breeding, blood feeding, and the mosquito’s lifespan. This study describes, for the first time in South America, the detection and characterization of a recently discovered bunyavirus corresponding to the Wutai mosquito phasivirus, confirming its high prevalence in the Culex spp. and Aedes spp. mosquitoes collected in the urban environment of Rio de Janeiro city, Brazil. The knowledge of the mosquito’s insect-specific virus infection can improve virus evolution studies and may contribute to the understanding of intrinsic factors that influence vector competence to transmit pathogenic viruses.
Highlights
Many RNA viruses have recently emerged, threatening humans and causing harm to animals and plants
Complete Genome of Wutai Mosquito Phasivirus Detected in Rio de Janeiro
The contigs generated by the metagenomic analysis revealed the presence of bunyavirus genomic material related to a recently described member of the Phasivirus genus within the Phenuiviridae family, in a group of four Culex spp. female
Summary
Many RNA viruses have recently emerged, threatening humans and causing harm to animals and plants. Those viruses present a unique capacity to evolve, probably influenced by their large population size, lack of proofreading activity of RNA polymerases, recombination, and reassortment. The prototype species (Bunyamwera orthobunyavirus) was first isolated from Aedes mosquitoes in the Semliki Forest, Uganda, during a yellow fever study in 1943 [2]. This detection was followed by the isolation of several other species, leading to the establishment of the Bunyaviridae family in 1975 and the proposal of five genera (Orthobunyavirus, Phlebovirus, Nairovirus, Hantavirus, and Tospovirus)
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