Abstract
Mosquito-associated viruses pose significant public health threats globally, with Yunnan Province in southwestern China representing a critical hotspot for arboviral emergence. In this study, 2612 female mosquitoes belonging to three species (Culex tritaeniorhynchus, Anopheles sinensis, and Culex quinquefasciatus) were collected from Wenshan during summer 2023. Viral metatranscriptomic analysis identified a novel bisegmented positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus, designated Wenshan mosquito virus (WSMV). Its genome comprises 4741 nucleotides across two segments: Segment 1 (3127 nt) encodes an S39 family peptidase and an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), while Segment-2 (1614 nt) encodes a capsid protein and a hypothetical protein. Pairwise nucleotide identity analysis revealed 87.62% and 86.96% identity with Hubei mosquito virus 2 (HMV-2) for Segments 1 and 2, respectively. Given the absence of established species demarcation criteria for this lineage, WSMV is described as a putative novel virus within the HMV-2-related group. Phylogenetic analyses using a common taxon set placed WSMV consistently with HMV-2 across both segments. WSMV was detected in Culex tritaeniorhynchus and Anopheles sinensis pools (MIR 2.08 and 1.54 per 1000, respectively), but not in the limited number of Culex quinquefasciatus pools tested; the host range of WSMV therefore remains to be fully defined. This study expands knowledge of mosquito-associated viral diversity in Yunnan’s border regions and provides a molecular foundation for future investigations.
Source:
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/v18111201
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