| isolation and characterization of a new insect flavivirus from aedes albopictus and aedes flavopictus mosquitoes in japan. | we isolated a new flavivirus from aedes albopictus mosquito and a related species in japan. the virus, designated aedes flavivirus (aefv), only replicated in a mosquito cell line and produced a mild cytopathic effect. the aefv genome was positive-sense, single-stranded rna, 11,064 nucleotides in length and contained a single open reading frame encoding a polyprotein of 3341 amino acids with 5' and 3' untranslated regions (utrs) of 96 and 945 nucleotides, respectively. genetic and phylogenetic an ... | 2009 | 19580982 |
| evidence for ribosomal frameshifting and a novel overlapping gene in the genomes of insect-specific flaviviruses. | flaviviruses have a positive-sense, single-stranded rna genome of approximately 11 kb, encoding a large polyprotein that is cleaved to produce approximately 10 mature proteins. cell fusing agent virus, kamiti river virus, culex flavivirus and several recently discovered flaviviruses have no known vertebrate host and apparently infect only insects. we present compelling bioinformatic evidence for a 253-295 codon overlapping gene (designated fifo) conserved throughout these insect-specific flavivi ... | 2010 | 20097399 |
| detection of flaviviruses and orthobunyaviruses in mosquitoes in the yucatan peninsula of mexico in 2008. | a total of 191,244 mosquitoes from 24 species were collected in the yucatan peninsula of mexico from january to december 2008, and tested for the presence of cytopathic virus by virus isolation in vero cells. eighteen virus isolates were obtained, all of which were orthobunyaviruses. these were identified by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr) and nucleotide sequencing as cache valley virus (n=17) and south river virus (n=1). a subset (n=20,124) of culex quinquefasciatus col ... | 2010 | 20370430 |
| arboviral survey of mosquitoes in two northern italian regions in 2007 and 2008. | recently, italy-particularly the emilia-romagna region-was the location of consecutive outbreaks of human diseases caused by the arboviruses chikungunya virus and west nile virus. the two outbreaks, spread by different species of mosquitoes, were not related, but pointed out the lack of an arboviral surveillance program in this region. beginning in 2007 entomological surveillance was initiated in the emilia-romagna region, and in 2008 the program was improved and extended at lombardia region. us ... | 2010 | 20370434 |
| isolation and sequence analysis of culex flavivirus from culex interrogator and culex quinquefasciatus in the yucatan peninsula of mexico. | previously, we reported a high prevalence of culex flavivirus (cxfv) in culex quinquefasciatus (say) in the yucatan peninsula of mexico. to determine whether other culex spp. mosquitoes in this region are susceptible to natural cxfv infection, cx. bahamensis (dyar and knab), cx. coronator (dyar and knab), cx. interrogator (dyar and knab), cx. nigripalpus (theobald) and cx. opisthopus (komp) in the yucatan peninsula of mexico were tested for cxfv. two pools of cx. interrogator were positive. the ... | 2010 | 20379749 |
| structural and functional analyses of a conserved hydrophobic pocket of flavivirus methyltransferase. | the flavivirus methyltransferase (mtase) sequentially methylates the n7 and 2'-o positions of the viral rna cap (gpppa-rna → m(7)gpppa-rna → m(7)gpppam-rna), using s-adenosyl-l-methionine (adomet) as a methyl donor. we report here that sinefungin (sin), an adomet analog, inhibits several flaviviruses through suppression of viral mtase. the crystal structure of west nile virus mtase in complex with sin inhibitor at 2.0-å resolution revealed a flavivirus-conserved hydrophobic pocket located next t ... | 2010 | 20685660 |
| distribution and phylogenetic comparisons of a novel mosquito flavivirus sequence present in culex tarsalis mosquitoes from western canada with viruses isolated in california and colorado. | in a previous study, a new flavivirus genome sequence was identified in culex tarsalis mosquitoes obtained in alberta, canada and was shown to be genetically related to but distinct from members of the insect-specific flaviviruses. nonstructural protein 5-encoding sequences amplified from cx. tarsalis pools from western canada have shown a high similarity to genome sequences of novel flaviviruses isolated from mosquitoes in california and colorado. despite wide distribution of this virus, design ... | 2011 | 21734143 |
| insect-specific virus discovery: significance for the arbovirus community. | arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses), especially those transmitted by mosquitoes, are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in humans and animals worldwide. recent discoveries indicate that mosquitoes are naturally infected with a wide range of other viruses, many within taxa occupied by arboviruses that are considered insect-specific. over the past ten years there has been a dramatic increase in the literature describing novel insect-specific virus detection in mosquitoes, which has p ... | 2015 | 26378568 |
| insect-specific flaviviruses: a systematic review of their discovery, host range, mode of transmission, superinfection exclusion potential and genomic organization. | there has been a dramatic increase in the number of insect-specific flaviviruses (isfs) discovered in the last decade. historically, these viruses have generated limited interest due to their inability to infect vertebrate cells. this viewpoint has changed in recent years because some isfs have been shown to enhance or suppress the replication of medically important flaviviruses in co-infected mosquito cells. additionally, comparative studies between isfs and medically important flaviviruses can ... | 2015 | 25866904 |
| eilat virus host range restriction is present at multiple levels of the virus life cycle. | most alphaviruses are mosquito-borne and exhibit a broad host range, infecting many different vertebrates, including birds, rodents, equids, humans, and nonhuman primates. this ability of most alphaviruses to infect arthropods and vertebrates is essential for their maintenance in nature. recently, a new alphavirus, eilat virus (eilv), was described, and in contrast to all other mosquito-borne viruses, it is unable to replicate in vertebrate cell lines. investigations into the nature of its host ... | 2014 | 25392227 |
| a new insect-specific flavivirus from northern australia suppresses replication of west nile virus and murray valley encephalitis virus in co-infected mosquito cells. | recent reports of a novel group of flaviviruses that replicate only in mosquitoes and appear to spread through insect populations via vertical transmission have emerged from around the globe. to date, there is no information on the presence or prevalence of these insect-specific flaviviruses (isfs) in australian mosquito species. to assess whether such viruses occur locally, we used reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr) and flavivirus universal primers that are specific to the ... | 2013 | 23460804 |
| replication of west nile virus, rabensburg lineage in mammalian cells is restricted by temperature. | the genus flavivirus currently consists of approximately 80 single-strand positive-sense rna viruses. these replicate in a range of hosts including myriad vertebrate, insect, and tick species. as a consequence of this broad host range, the majority of flaviviruses can be propagated in most vertebrate and insect cell cultures. this ability to infect arthropods and vertebrates usually is essential for maintenance of these viruses in nature. but recently, there has been the discovery of a number of ... | 2012 | 23241081 |
| the mosquito aedes aegypti has a large genome size and high transposable element load but contains a low proportion of transposon-specific pirnas. | the pirna pathway has been shown in model organisms to be involved in silencing of transposons thereby providing genome stability. in d. melanogaster the majority of pirnas map to these sequences. the medically important mosquito species aedes aegypti has a large genome size, a high transposon load which includes miniature inverted repeat transposable elements (mites) and an expansion of the pirna biogenesis genes. studies of transgenic lines of ae. aegypti have indicated that introduced transpo ... | 2011 | 22171608 |
| mercadeo virus: a novel mosquito-specific flavivirus from panama. | viruses in the genus flavivirus (family flaviviridae) include many arthropod-borne viruses of public health and veterinary importance. however, during the past two decades an explosion of novel insect-specific flaviviruses (isfs), some closely related to vertebrate pathogens, have been discovered. although many flavivirus pathogens of vertebrates have been isolated from naturally infected mosquitoes in panama, isfs have not previously been reported from the country. this report describes the iso ... | 2015 | 26304915 |
| molecular characterization of flaviviruses from field-collected mosquitoes in northwestern italy, 2011-2012. | the genus flavivirus comprises several mosquito-borne species, including the zoonotic pathogens west nile and usutu virus, circulating in animals and humans in italy since 1998. due to its ecological and geographical features, piedmont is considered a risk area for flavivirus transmission. here we report the results of a flavivirus survey (detection and genetic characterization) of mosquitoes collected in piedmont in 2012 and the genetic characterization of three strains detected in 2011. | 2014 | 25160565 |
| characterization of a novel insect-specific flavivirus from brazil: potential for inhibition of infection of arthropod cells with medically important flaviviruses. | in the past decade, there has been an upsurge in the number of newly described insect-specific flaviviruses isolated pan-globally. we recently described the isolation of a novel flavivirus (tentatively designated 'nhumirim virus'; nhuv) that represents an example of a unique subset of apparently insect-specific viruses that phylogenetically affiliate with dual-host mosquito-borne flaviviruses despite appearing to be limited to replication in mosquito cells. we characterized the in vitro growth p ... | 2014 | 25146007 |
| rapid evolutionary dynamics of structural disorder as a potential driving force for biological divergence in flaviviruses. | protein structure is commonly regarded to be conserved and to dictate function. most proteins rely on conformational flexibility to some degree. are regions that convey conformational flexibility conserved over evolutionary time? can changes in conformational flexibility alter protein function? here, the evolutionary dynamics of structurally ordered and disordered (flexible) regions are investigated genome-wide in flaviviruses, revealing that the amount and location of structural disorder fluctu ... | 0 | 23418179 |
| ilheus virus isolation in the pantanal, west-central brazil. | the wetlands of the brazilian pantanal host large concentrations of diverse wildlife species and hematophagous arthropods, conditions that favor the circulation of zoonotic arboviruses. a recent study from the nhecolândia sub-region of pantanal reported serological evidence of various flaviviruses, including west nile virus and ilheus virus (ilhv). according to the age of seropositive horses, at least three flaviviruses, including ilhv, circulated in the brazilian pantanal between 2005 and 2009. ... | 2013 | 23875051 |
| insect-specific viruses and their potential impact on arbovirus transmission. | arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) are the causative agents of significant morbidity and mortality among humans and animals globally. in the past few years, the widespread adoption of next generation sequencing and metagenomics has led to a new era of virus discovery, where many novel viruses have been documented, exhibiting a restricted host-range in mosquitoes. they represent a wide-range of insect-specific viruses within the families of bunyaviridae, flaviviridae, mesoniviridae, reoviridae ... | 2015 | 26322695 |
| novel insect-specific flavivirus isolated from northern europe. | mosquitoes collected in finland were screened for flaviviral rna leading to the discovery and isolation of a novel flavivirus designated hanko virus (hankv). virus characterization, including phylogenetic analysis of the complete coding sequence, confirmed hankv as a member of the "insect-specific" flavivirus (isf) group. hankv is the first member of this group isolated from northern europe, and therefore the first northern european isf for which the complete coding sequence has been determined. ... | 2012 | 22999256 |
| detection of a new insect flavivirus and isolation of aedes flavivirus in northern italy. | during recent years, numerous novel 'insect flaviviruses' have been discovered in natural mosquito populations. in a previous study we described the presence of flavivirus dna sequences integrated in aedes albopictus (asian tiger mosquito) populations from northern italy in 2007. | 2012 | 23043958 |
| discovery of novel viruses in mosquitoes from the zambezi valley of mozambique. | mosquitoes carry a wide variety of viruses that can cause vector-borne infectious diseases and affect both human and veterinary public health. although mozambique can be considered a hot spot for emerging infectious diseases due to factors such as a rich vector population and a close vector/human/wildlife interface, the viral flora in mosquitoes have not previously been investigated. in this study, viral metagenomics was employed to analyze the viral communities in culex and mansonia mosquitoes ... | 2016 | 27682810 |
| flavidb: a data mining system for knowledge discovery in flaviviruses with direct applications in immunology and vaccinology. | the flavivirus genus is unusually large, comprising more than 70 species, of which more than half are known human pathogens. it includes a set of clinically relevant infectious agents such as dengue, west nile, yellow fever, and japanese encephalitis viruses. although these pathogens have been studied extensively, safe and efficient vaccines lack for the majority of the flaviviruses. | 0 | 25544857 |
| detection of quang binh virus from mosquitoes in china. | flaviviruses present a wide range of genetic diversity and exhibit diverse host relationships. mosquito-borne flaviviruses have recently been isolated and characterized worldwide. yunnan province of china is one of the richest areas of species diversity and is the center of multi-species evolution in mainland asia, which supports the circulation of numerous arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses). in a screening program of arboviruses, mosquitoes were collected during the mosquito activity season ... | 2014 | 24342141 |
| insect-specific flaviviruses, a worldwide widespread group of viruses only detected in insects. | several flaviviruses are important pathogens for humans and animals (dengue viruses, japanese encephalitis virus, yellow-fever virus, tick-borne encephalitis virus, west nile virus). in recent years, numerous novel and related flaviviruses without known pathogenic capacity have been isolated worldwide in the natural mosquito population. however, phylogenetic studies have shown that genomic sequences of these viruses diverge from other flaviviruses. moreover, these viruses seem to be exclusive of ... | 2016 | 26235844 |
| detection of mosquito-only flaviviruses in europe. | the genus flavivirus, family flaviviridae, includes a number of important arthropod-transmitted human pathogens such as dengue viruses, west nile virus, japanese encephalitis virus and yellow fever virus. in addition, the genus includes flaviviruses without a known vertebrate reservoir, which have been detected only in insects, particularly in mosquitoes, such as cell fusing agent virus, kamiti river virus, culex flavivirus, aedes flavivirus, quang binh virus, nakiwogo virus and calbertado virus ... | 2012 | 22377581 |
| wide detection of aedes flavivirus in north-eastern italy--a european hotspot of emerging mosquito-borne diseases. | the pattern of flavivirus infection in mosquitoes belonging to the genera aedes and culex collected in two regions of north-eastern italy (trentino and veneto) was assessed. mosquitoes were collected during 2012 and screened for flaviviruses using a generic reverse transcription-nested-pcr targeted on a region of the non-structural ns5 gene. the phylogenetic analysis was performed on a fragment of ~1000 bp. virus isolation was attempted in c6/36 insect cell lines and the infected cell cultures w ... | 2015 | 25326313 |
| complete genome sequence of menghai flavivirus, a novel insect-specific flavivirus from china. | menghai flavivirus (mfv) was isolated from aedes albopictus in menghai county of yunnan province, china, during an arboviruses screening program in august 2010. whole genome sequencing of mfv was performed using an ion pgm™ sequencer. the complete genome of mfv was 10897 nucleotides in length and encoded a polyprotein and fairly interesting flavivirus orf (fifo). the polyprotein contained three flavivirus structural proteins (c, prm/m and e) and seven nonstructural proteins. nucleotide blast ana ... | 2017 | 28175982 |
| first isolation of aedes flavivirus in the western hemisphere and evidence of vertical transmission in the mosquito aedes (stegomyia) albopictus (diptera: culicidae). | we report here the first evidence of vertical transmission of aedes flavivirus (aefv) and its first isolation in the western hemisphere. aefv strain spfld-mo-2011-mp6 was isolated in c6/36 cells from a pool of male aedes albopictus mosquitoes that were reared to adults from larvae collected in southwest missouri, usa, in 2011. electron micrographs of the virus showed virions of approximately 45nm in diameter with morphological characteristics associated with flaviviruses. the genomic sequence de ... | 2013 | 23582303 |
| detection of culex flavivirus and aedes flavivirus nucleotide sequences in mosquitoes from parks in the city of são paulo, brazil. | the dengue viruses are widespread in brazil and are a major public health concern. other flaviviruses also cause diseases in humans, although on a smaller scale. the city of são paulo is in a highly urbanized area with few green spaces apart from its parks, which are used for recreation and where potential vertebrate hosts and mosquito vectors of pathogenic flavivirus species can be found. although this scenario can contribute to the transmission of flavivirus to humans, little is known about th ... | 2016 | 26829359 |
| arboviral screening of invasive aedes species in northeastern turkey: west nile virus circulation and detection of insect-only viruses. | the recent reports of aedes aegypti and ae. albopictus populations in turkey, in parallel with the territorial expansion identified in several surrounding countries, have raised concerns about the establishment and re-establishment of these invasive aedes mosquitoes in turkey. this cross-sectional study was performed to detect aedes aegypti and ae. albopictus in regions of recent incursions, and screen for viral pathogens known to be transmitted elsewhere by these species. | 2019 | 31059502 |
| identification of insect-specific flaviviruses in areas of brazil and paraguay experiencing endemic arbovirus transmission and the description of a novel flavivirus infecting sabethes belisarioi. | viral infection was examined with pan-flavivirus and pan-alphavirus sets of primers in mosquitoes collected in four south american regions with confirmed pathogenic arbovirus circulation. positive pools for flavivirus infection were sequenced and screened for specific arboviruses, which were not detected. however, ns5 gene sequencing showed that most sequences corresponded to the insect-specific culex flavivirus. one sequence retrieved from an aedes albopictus pool grouped with the insect-specif ... | 2019 | 30476788 |
| co-circulation of aedes flavivirus, culex flavivirus, and quang binh virus in shanghai, china. | with increases in global travel and trade, the spread of arboviruses is undoubtedly alarming. pathogen detection in field-caught mosquitoes can provide the earliest possible warning of transmission. insect-specific flavivirus (isfv) has been first detected in 1991 and documented worldwide in the latest ten years. although infection with isfvs is apparently limited to insects, an increase in the infection rate of mosquito-borne flaviviruses may be able to induce cytopathic effects in vertebrate c ... | 2018 | 30021614 |