Mosquito virus diversity in Western and North-western Uganda
Authors: Mayanja Martin N. , Niebel Marc , Ashraf Shirin , Hardy Maryam , Ssekagiri Alfred , Tong Lily , Nanteza Anne , Matovu Enock , Nyakaana Sylvester , Filipe Ana da Silva , Mwiine Frank , Lutwama Julius J. , Thomson Emma C. 
Published: November 2023

Introduction

Surveillance for mosquito borne arboviruses in Sub Saharan Africa has largely focussed on known viruses including Yellow fever virus (YFV), Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV), Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), West Nile virus (WNV) and Dengue viruses (DENV). Routine surveillance and outbreak investigations traditionally rely on serology, PCR and cell culture. Although such methods are useful, they are do not detect novel or unexpected viruses.

Methods

This study employed unbiased metagenomic next generation sequencing (MNGS) to characterise viruses circulating in mosquitoes of Arua and Kasese districts of Uganda collected systematically as part the ArboViral Infection (AVI) study. Adult mosquito sampling was carried out from multiple sites using light traps baited with solid carbon dioxide (indoors) and pyrethrum spray (outdoors). 10,026 mosquitoes were identified using appropriate morphological identification keys and separated into 96 pools by species and location of collection. Viral RNA extracted from homogenised mosquitoes was reverse transcribed to complimentary DNA and sequenced on the flow cell of an Illumina NextSeq platform. Bioinformatic analysis was performed using a customized in-house metagenomics pipeline. Downstream analyses were carried out in R version 4.2.1.

Results

97 viruses from 24 families and 31 genera were detected in 96 mosquito pools from Arua and Kasese districts. The abundance of viruses in different families was in the orderRhabdoviridae(33),Flaviviridae(28),Orthomyxoviridae(13),Mesoniviridae(9),Piconarviridae(9),Peribunyaviridae(9),Phasmaviridae(9),Iflaviridae(8),Phenuiviridae(7),Nodaviridae(5),Xinmoviridae(4),Reoviridae(4),Virusidae(2),Nairoviridae(2),Qinviridae(2),Togaviridae(2),Alphatetraviridae(2),Picornaviralesidae(2),Iridoviridae, (1),Nudiviridae(1),Parvoviridae(1),Permutetraviridae(1) and 22 viruses from different families remain unclassified. TheFlaviviridae,Togaviridae,Rhabdoviridae,Peribunyaviridae,Phenuiviridae,Nairoviridae, NodaviridaeandOrthomyxoviridaeharbor viruses that cause disease in humans and other mammals. Viruses from insect-specific virus families that were detected included theChuviridae,Iflaviridae,Phasmaviridae and Alphatetraviridae. 92/173 (53%) of the viral genomes had full opening reading frames (ORFs) and diverged by >30% nucleotide pairwise distance from the nearest reference genome.

Conclusion

The majority of viruses detected were novel species described for the first time with unknown potential to cause disease. The diversity of virus species in mosquitoes from Uganda, a hotspot for emerging arboviruses has been only partially characterized. This study, carried out in Western and North West Uganda illustrates the scale of richness and virus diversity in the region and the need to further characterise the virome in mosquitoes, especially those with a propensity to feed from human and animal hosts.