1
|
Madhav M, Blasdell KR, Trewin B, Paradkar PN, López-Denman AJ. Culex-Transmitted Diseases: Mechanisms, Impact, and Future Control Strategies using Wolbachia. Viruses 2024; 16:1134. [PMID: 39066296 PMCID: PMC11281716 DOI: 10.3390/v16071134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2024] [Revised: 07/08/2024] [Accepted: 07/11/2024] [Indexed: 07/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Mosquitoes of the Culex genus are responsible for a large burden of zoonotic virus transmission globally. Collectively, they play a significant role in the transmission of medically significant diseases such as Japanese encephalitis virus and West Nile virus. Climate change, global trade, habitat transformation and increased urbanisation are leading to the establishment of Culex mosquitoes in new geographical regions. These novel mosquito incursions are intensifying concerns about the emergence of Culex-transmitted diseases and outbreaks in previously unaffected areas. New mosquito control methods are currently being developed and deployed globally. Understanding the complex interaction between pathogens and mosquitoes is essential for developing new control strategies for Culex species mosquitoes. This article reviews the role of Culex mosquitos as vectors of zoonotic disease, discussing the transmission of viruses across different species, and the potential use of Wolbachia technologies to control disease spread. By leveraging the insights gained from recent successful field trials of Wolbachia against Aedes-borne diseases, we comprehensively discuss the feasibility of using this technique to control Culex mosquitoes and the potential for the development of next generational Wolbachia-based control methods.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mukund Madhav
- Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness, CSIRO Health and Biosecurity, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia
| | - Kim R. Blasdell
- Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness, CSIRO Health and Biosecurity, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia
| | - Brendan Trewin
- CSIRO Health and Biosecurity, Dutton Park, Brisbane, QLD 4102, Australia
| | - Prasad N. Paradkar
- Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness, CSIRO Health and Biosecurity, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia
| | - Adam J. López-Denman
- Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness, CSIRO Health and Biosecurity, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
De Coninck L, Soto A, Wang L, De Wolf K, Smitz N, Deblauwe I, Mbigha Donfack KC, Müller R, Delang L, Matthijnssens J. Lack of abundant core virome in Culex mosquitoes from a temperate climate region despite a mosquito species-specific virome. mSystems 2024; 9:e0001224. [PMID: 38742876 PMCID: PMC11237611 DOI: 10.1128/msystems.00012-24] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2024] [Accepted: 04/15/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024] Open
Abstract
In arthropod-associated microbial communities, insect-specific viruses (ISVs) are prevalent yet understudied due to limited infectivity outside their natural hosts. However, ISVs might play a crucial role in regulating mosquito populations and influencing arthropod-borne virus transmission. Some studies have indicated a core virome in mosquitoes consisting of mostly ISVs. Employing single mosquito metagenomics, we comprehensively profiled the virome of native and invasive mosquito species in Belgium. This approach allowed for accurate host species determination, prevalence assessment of viruses and Wolbachia, and the identification of novel viruses. Contrary to our expectations, no abundant core virome was observed in Culex mosquitoes from Belgium. In that regard, we caution against rigidly defining mosquito core viromes and encourage nuanced interpretations of other studies. Nonetheless, our study identified 45 viruses of which 28 were novel, enriching our understanding of the mosquito virome and ISVs. We showed that the mosquito virome in this study is species-specific and less dependent on the location where mosquitoes from the same species reside. In addition, because Wolbachia has previously been observed to influence arbovirus transmission, we report the prevalence of Wolbachia in Belgian mosquitoes and the detection of several Wolbachia mobile genetic elements. The observed prevalence ranged from 83% to 92% in members from the Culex pipiens complex.IMPORTANCECulex pipiens mosquitoes are important vectors for arboviruses like West Nile virus and Usutu virus. Virome studies on individual Culex pipiens, and on individual mosquitoes in general, have been lacking. To mitigate this, we sequenced the virome of 190 individual Culex and 8 individual Aedes japonicus mosquitoes. We report the lack of a core virome in these mosquitoes from Belgium and caution the interpretation of other studies in this light. The discovery of new viruses in this study will aid our comprehension of insect-specific viruses and the mosquito virome in general in relation to mosquito physiology and mosquito population dynamics.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lander De Coninck
- KU Leuven, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, Rega Institute, Division of Clinical and Epidemiological Virology, Laboratory of Viral Metagenomics, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Alina Soto
- KU Leuven, Department of Microbiology, Immunology, & Transplantation, Rega Institute, Laboratory of Virology and Chemotherapy, Mosquito Virology Team, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Lanjiao Wang
- KU Leuven, Department of Microbiology, Immunology, & Transplantation, Rega Institute, Laboratory of Virology and Chemotherapy, Mosquito Virology Team, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Katrien De Wolf
- Department Biomedical Sciences, The Unit of Entomology, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium
- Department of Biology, Terrestrial Ecology Unit, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Nathalie Smitz
- Department of Biology, Royal Museum for Central Africa (Barcoding Facility for Organisms and Tissues of Policy Concern), Tervuren, Belgium
| | - Isra Deblauwe
- Department Biomedical Sciences, The Unit of Entomology, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Karelle Celes Mbigha Donfack
- KU Leuven, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, Rega Institute, Division of Clinical and Epidemiological Virology, Laboratory of Viral Metagenomics, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Ruth Müller
- Department Biomedical Sciences, The Unit of Entomology, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Leen Delang
- KU Leuven, Department of Microbiology, Immunology, & Transplantation, Rega Institute, Laboratory of Virology and Chemotherapy, Mosquito Virology Team, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Jelle Matthijnssens
- KU Leuven, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, Rega Institute, Division of Clinical and Epidemiological Virology, Laboratory of Viral Metagenomics, Leuven, Belgium
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Koh C, Saleh MC. Mosquito core viromes: do they exist? Trends Parasitol 2024; 40:203-204. [PMID: 38267279 DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2024.01.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2024] [Accepted: 01/12/2024] [Indexed: 01/26/2024]
Affiliation(s)
- Cassandra Koh
- Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, CNRS UMR3569, Viruses and RNA Interference Unit, 75015 Paris, France.
| | - Maria-Carla Saleh
- Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, CNRS UMR3569, Viruses and RNA Interference Unit, 75015 Paris, France
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Brait N, Hackl T, Morel C, Exbrayat A, Gutierrez S, Lequime S. A tale of caution: How endogenous viral elements affect virus discovery in transcriptomic data. Virus Evol 2023; 10:vead088. [PMID: 38516656 PMCID: PMC10956553 DOI: 10.1093/ve/vead088] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2023] [Revised: 11/24/2023] [Accepted: 12/22/2023] [Indexed: 03/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Large-scale metagenomic and -transcriptomic studies have revolutionized our understanding of viral diversity and abundance. In contrast, endogenous viral elements (EVEs), remnants of viral sequences integrated into host genomes, have received limited attention in the context of virus discovery, especially in RNA-Seq data. EVEs resemble their original viruses, a challenge that makes distinguishing between active infections and integrated remnants difficult, affecting virus classification and biases downstream analyses. Here, we systematically assess the effects of EVEs on a prototypical virus discovery pipeline, evaluate their impact on data integrity and classification accuracy, and provide some recommendations for better practices. We examined EVEs and exogenous viral sequences linked to Orthomyxoviridae, a diverse family of negative-sense segmented RNA viruses, in 13 genomic and 538 transcriptomic datasets of Culicinae mosquitoes. Our analysis revealed a substantial number of viral sequences in transcriptomic datasets. However, a significant portion appeared not to be exogenous viruses but transcripts derived from EVEs. Distinguishing between transcribed EVEs and exogenous virus sequences was especially difficult in samples with low viral abundance. For example, three transcribed EVEs showed full-length segments, devoid of frameshift and nonsense mutations, exhibiting sufficient mean read depths that qualify them as exogenous virus hits. Mapping reads on a host genome containing EVEs before assembly somewhat alleviated the EVE burden, but it led to a drastic reduction of viral hits and reduced quality of assemblies, especially in regions of the viral genome relatively similar to EVEs. Our study highlights that our knowledge of the genetic diversity of viruses can be altered by the underestimated presence of EVEs in transcriptomic datasets, leading to false positives and altered or missing sequence information. Thus, recognizing and addressing the influence of EVEs in virus discovery pipelines will be key in enhancing our ability to capture the full spectrum of viral diversity.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nadja Brait
- Cluster of Microbial Ecology, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen 9747 AG, The Netherlands
| | | | - Côme Morel
- ASTRE research unit, Cirad, INRAe, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier 34398, France
| | - Antoni Exbrayat
- ASTRE research unit, Cirad, INRAe, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier 34398, France
| | - Serafin Gutierrez
- ASTRE research unit, Cirad, INRAe, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier 34398, France
| | - Sebastian Lequime
- Cluster of Microbial Ecology, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen 9747 AG, The Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|