Department of Entomology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
Department of Genetics, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States of America.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2022 Jun 28;16(6):e0010507. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0010507. eCollection 2022 Jun.
Mayaro virus (MAYV) is an arboviral pathogen in the genus Alphavirus that is circulating in South America with potential to spread to naïve regions. MAYV is also one of the few viruses with the ability to be transmitted by mosquitoes in the genus Anopheles, as well as the typical arboviral transmitting mosquitoes in the genus Aedes. Few studies have investigated the infection response of Anopheles mosquitoes. In this study we detail the transcriptomic and small RNA responses of An. stephensi to infection with MAYV via infectious bloodmeal at 2, 7, and 14 days post infection (dpi). 487 unique transcripts were significantly regulated, 78 putative novel miRNAs were identified, and an siRNA response is observed targeting the MAYV genome. Gene ontology analysis of transcripts regulated at each timepoint shows a number of proteases regulated at 2 and 7 dpi, potentially representative of Toll or melanization pathway activation, and repression of pathways related to autophagy and apoptosis at 14 dpi. These findings provide a basic understanding of the infection response of An. stephensi to MAYV and help to identify host factors which might be useful to target to inhibit viral replication in Anopheles mosquitoes.
马亚罗病毒（MAYV）是一种属于甲病毒属的虫媒病毒病原体，在南美洲流行，有可能传播到无免疫力的地区。MAYV 也是少数几种能够通过按蚊属中的蚊子以及伊蚊属中典型的虫媒病毒传播的病毒之一。很少有研究调查过按蚊对感染的反应。在这项研究中，我们详细描述了感染马亚罗病毒后，按蚊斯蒂芬斯（An. stephensi）在感染后 2、7 和 14 天通过传染性血餐的转录组和小 RNA 反应。487 个独特的转录物被显著调节，鉴定出 78 个推定的新 miRNA，并且观察到针对 MAYV 基因组的 siRNA 反应。每个时间点调节的转录物的基因本体分析显示，在 2 和 7 dpi 时调节了许多蛋白酶，可能代表 Toll 或黑化途径的激活，以及在 14 dpi 时与自噬和细胞凋亡途径相关的抑制。这些发现为了解 An. stephensi 对 MAYV 的感染反应提供了基础，并有助于鉴定可能有助于抑制按蚊中病毒复制的宿主因子。
