Ang Christopher Chong Wei, Ang Angelica Ting Yi, Yam Jerald, Lee Rou Xuan, Lim Ming Jie, Loh Zhi Yang, Torno Majhalia, Hakim Luqman, Wong Judith Chui Ching, Harrison Jessica J, Hobson-Peters Jody, Tan Cheong Huat, Setoh Yin Xiang
School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia.
Environmental Health Institute, National Environment Agency, 11 Biopolis Way, Helios Block, #06-05/08, Singapore 138667, Singapore.
J Gen Virol. 2025 Jun;106(6). doi: 10.1099/jgv.0.002105.
Insect-specific flaviviruses (ISFs) are a group of orthoflaviviruses that can replicate efficiently in arthropods but are unable to replicate in vertebrate hosts. This contrasts with medically important orthoflaviviruses, such as dengue virus (DENV) and West Nile virus (WNV). Using the established monoclonal antibody against viral RNA intermediates in cell assay, we report the first isolation of an ISF, Quang Binh virus (QBV), in Singapore from three pools of mosquitoes. To determine the spatiotemporal prevalence of QBV, a total of 17,070 mosquitoes, represented as 721 pools, were screened using a QBV-specific reverse transcriptase quantitative PCR assay, revealing 36 QBV-positive pools of mosquitoes detected mainly along the northern coastal regions of Singapore. Repeated detections over 12 months in a north-western nature reserve suggest local stable establishment of the virus. Phylogenetic and molecular analyses show that QBV sequences from the Singapore group together with other Southeast Asian sequences and that -derived sequences are phylogenetically distinct from those derived from . We also present evidence that QBV is able to suppress DENV2 and WNV in C6/36 cells by 2.9 logs and 1.8 logs, respectively. This report represents the first known spatiotemporal study of an ISF and highlights QBV's potential as a biological control against medically important orthoflaviviruses.
昆虫特异性黄病毒（ISFs）是一组正黄病毒，它们能够在节肢动物中高效复制，但无法在脊椎动物宿主中复制。这与登革热病毒（DENV）和西尼罗河病毒（WNV）等具有医学重要性的正黄病毒形成对比。利用在细胞试验中针对病毒RNA中间体建立的单克隆抗体，我们报告了在新加坡首次从三池蚊子中分离出一种ISF，广平病毒（QBV）。为了确定QBV的时空流行情况，使用QBV特异性逆转录定量PCR检测法对总共17070只蚊子（代表721池）进行了筛查，发现36池蚊子呈QBV阳性，主要在新加坡北部沿海地区检测到。在一个西北自然保护区进行的为期12个月的重复检测表明该病毒在当地稳定存在。系统发育和分子分析表明，来自新加坡的QBV序列与其他东南亚序列聚在一起，且其衍生序列在系统发育上与来自其他地区的序列不同。我们还提供证据表明，QBV能够分别在C6/36细胞中将DENV2和WNV抑制2.9个对数和1.8个对数。本报告代表了对一种ISF的首次已知时空研究，并突出了QBV作为针对具有医学重要性的正黄病毒的生物防治手段的潜力。
