Culicoides-Specific Fitness Increase of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus in Insect-to-Insect Infections.

ABSTRACT: Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) is an arthropod-borne virus affecting livestock. In the United States, sporadic outbreaks result in significant economic losses. During epizootics, Culicoides biting midges are biological vectors and key to the geographic expansion of outbreaks. Additionally, Culicoides may play a role in VSV overwintering because females and males are capable of highly efficient venereal transmission, despite their relatively low virus titers. We hypothesized that VSV propagated within a midge has increased fitness for subsequent midge infections. To evaluate the potential host-specific fitness increase, we propagated three viral isolates of VSV in porcine skin fibroblasts and Culicoides cell lines. We then evaluated the viral infection dynamics of the

SUBMITTER: Rozo-Lopez P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10816812 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature