Faustovirus-Like Asfarvirus in Hematophagous Biting Midges and Their Vertebrate Hosts.

ABSTRACT: Faustovirus, a new Asfarviridae-related giant virus, was recently isolated in Vermamoeba vermiformis, a protist found in sewage water in various geographical locations and occasionally reported in human eye infection cases. As part of a global metagenomic analysis of viral communities existing in biting midges, we report here for the first time the identification and isolation of a Faustovirus-like virus in hematophagous arthropods and its detection in their animal hosts. The DNA virome analysis of three pools of Culicoides sp., engorged female Culicoides imicola and non-engorged male/female C. imicola biting midges collected in Senegal, revealed the presence of amoeba-infecting giant viruses and, among them, a majority of sequences related to Faustovirus. Phylogenetic analyses conducted o

SUBMITTER: Temmam S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4679923 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature