Open AccessLaboratory strains of Aedes aegypti are competent to Brazilian Zika virus
Author(s) -
André Luis Costa-da-Silva,
Rafaella Sayuri Ioshino,
Helena R. C. Araújo,
Bianca Burini Kojin,
Paolo Marinho de Andrade Zanotto,
Danielle Bruna Leal Oliveira,
Stella Rezende Melo,
Edison Luiz Durigon,
Margareth Lara Capurro
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0171951
Subject(s) - zika virus , aedes aegypti , virology , biology , aedes , outbreak , virus , vector (molecular biology) , dengue fever , recombinant dna , larva , biochemistry , gene , botany
The Zika virus outbreaks are unprecedented human threat in relation to congenital malformations and neurological/autoimmune complications. Since this virus has high potential to spread in regions presenting the vectors, improvement in mosquito control is a top priority. Thus, Aedes aegypti laboratory strains will be fundamental to support studies in different research fields implicated on Zika-mosquito interactions which are the basis for the development of innovative control methods. In this sense, our aim was to determine the main infection aspects of a Brazilian Zika strain in reference Aedes aegypti laboratory mosquitoes. We orally exposed Rockefeller, Higgs and Rexville mosquitoes to the Brazilian ZIKV (ZIKV BR ) and qRT-PCR was applied to determine the infection, dissemination and detection rates of ZIKV in the collected saliva as well as viral levels in mosquito tissues. The three strains sustain the virus development but Higgs showed significantly lower viral loads in bodies at 14 days post-infection (dpi) and the lowest prevalences in bodies and heads. The Rockefeller strain was the most susceptible at 7 dpi but similar dissemination rates were observed at 14 dpi. Although variations exist, the ZIKV BR RNA shows detectable levels in saliva of the three strains at 14 dpi but is only detected in Rockefeller at 7 dpi. Moreover, saliva samples from the three strains were confirmed to be infectious when intrathoracically injected into mosquitoes. The ZIKV BR kinetics was monitored in Rockefeller mosquitoes and virus could be identified in the heads at 4 dpi but was more consistently detected late in infection. Our study presents the first evaluation on how Brazilian Zika virus behaves in reference Aedes aegypti strains and shed light on how the infection evolves over time. Vector competence and hallmarks of the ZIKV BR development were revealed in laboratory mosquitoes, providing additional information to accelerate studies focused on ZIKV-mosquito interactions.