Agua Salud alphavirus infection, dissemination and transmission in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes

Jagtap, S. V., Brink, J., Frank, S. C., Badusche, M., Leggewie, M., Sreenu, V. B. , Fuss, J., Schnettler, E. and Altinli, M. (2023) Agua Salud alphavirus infection, dissemination and transmission in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Viruses, 15(5), 1113. (doi: 10.3390/v15051113) (PMID:37243199) (PMCID:PMC10223791)

Abstract

Mosquitoes are competent vectors for many important arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses). In addition to arboviruses, insect-specific viruses (ISV) have also been discovered in mosquitoes. ISVs are viruses that replicate in insect hosts but are unable to infect and replicate in vertebrates. They have been shown to interfere with arbovirus replication in some cases. Despite the increase in studies on ISV–arbovirus interactions, ISV interactions with their hosts and how they are maintained in nature are still not well understood. In the present study, we investigated the infection and dissemination of the Agua Salud alphavirus (ASALV) in the important mosquito vector Aedes aegypti through different infection routes (per oral infection, intrathoracic injection) and its transmission. We show here that ASALV infects the female Ae. aegypti and replicates when mosquitoes are infected intrathoracically or orally. ASALV disseminated to different tissues, including the midgut, salivary glands and ovaries. However, we observed a higher virus load in the brain than in the salivary glands and carcasses, suggesting a tropism towards brain tissues. Our results show that ASALV is transmitted horizontally during adult and larval stages, although we did not observe vertical transmission. Understanding ISV infection and dissemination dynamics in Ae. aegypti and their transmission routes could help the use of ISVs as an arbovirus control strategy in the future.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This research was supported by the German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF; TTU 01.701 and TTU 01.708), and German Scholars Organisation- Klaus Tschira Boost Fund (GSO KT/24). JF salary at the Competence Centre for genomic Analysis Kiel, is supported by the DFG-project (4074495230) in the call: Hochdurchsatz-Sequenzierung.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Schnettler, Dr Esther and Vattipally, Dr Sreenu
• Authors: Jagtap, S. V., Brink, J., Frank, S. C., Badusche, M., Leggewie, M., Sreenu, V. B., Fuss, J., Schnettler, E., and Altinli, M.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Infection & Immunity > Centre for Virus Research
• Journal Name: Viruses
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 1999-4915
• ISSN (Online): 1999-4915
• Published Online: 03 May 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Viruses 15(5): 1113
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License