A new insect-specific flavivirus from northern Australia suppresses replication of West Nile virus and Murray Valley encephalitis virus in co-infected mosquito cells.

ABSTRACT: 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 NS5 gene to detect these viruses in mosquito pools collected from the Northern Territory. Of 94 pools of mosquitoes, 13 were RT-PCR positive, and of these, 6 flavivirus isolates were obtained by inoculation of mosquito cell culture. Sequence analysis of the NS5 gene revealed that these isolates are

SUBMITTER: Hobson-Peters J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3584062 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature