Mosquitoes Transmit Unique West Nile Virus Populations during Each Feeding Episode

Cell Reports

Joseph R. Fauver¹  Doug E. Brackney¹  Darci R. Smith¹  Claudia Rückert¹  Reyes A. Murrieta¹  James Weger-Lucarelli¹  Selene Garcia-Luna¹  Gregory D. Ebel¹  Nathan D. Grubaugh¹  Alex Gendernalik¹ 

[1] Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA;

关键词: West Nile virus;    flavivirus;    flaviviridae;    arboviruses;    mosquitoes;    virus evolution;    virus population biology;    next generation sequencing;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.celrep.2017.03.076

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses), such as Zika virus, chikungunya virus, and West Nile virus (WNV), pose continuous threats to emerge and cause large epidemics. Often, these events are associated with novel virus variants optimized for local transmission that first arise as minorities within a host. Thus, the conditions that regulate the frequency of intrahost variants are important determinants of emergence. Here, we describe the dynamics of WNV genetic diversity during its transmission cycle. By temporally sampling saliva from individual mosquitoes, we demonstrate that virus populations expectorated by mosquitoes are highly diverse and unique to each feeding episode. After transmission to birds, however, most genetic diversity is removed by strong purifying selection. Further, transmission of potentially mosquito-adaptive WNV variants is strongly influenced by genetic drift in mosquitoes. These results highlight the complex evolutionary forces a novel virus variant must overcome to alter infection phenotypes at the population level.

【 授权许可】

Unknown