Characterization of viral communities carried by male and female Aedes mosquitos collected in Houston

Presenting Author(s)

FP

Franklin Pham

University of St. Thomas
Houston, Texas, United States

Co-Author(s)

TB

Trey Brittain

University of Saint Thomas - Houston
Houston, Texas, United States
VT

Viet Tran

University of Saint Thomas - Houston
Houston, Texas, United States
SD

Sahyly Davalos

University of Saint Thomas - Houston
Houston, Texas, United States
MS

Martin Silguero

University of St. Thomas
Houston, Texas, United States
Sarah Strobel

Student Research Leader
University of St. Thomas
Houston, Texas, United States
AH

Ana Hernandez

University of St. Thomas
Houston, Texas, United States
ML

Maia Larios-Sanz

University of St. Thomas
Houston, Texas, United States
RR

Rosemarie Rosell

University of St. Thomas
Houston, Texas, United States

Mosquitos are known vectors of many serious viral diseases, but little is known about the complete collection of viral strains because we have historically relied on culturing techniques to study microbial diversity. In our work, we are taking a genomic approach to characterizing the viral populations carried by mosquitos found in Houston. Specifically, we are using metagenomics – that is, sequencing the entire genetic material in a sample, followed by analyses to identify each sequence obtained from the sample. We collected mosquitos throughout Houston and separated them by both species and sex within each species using morphological characteristics and DNA barcoding. DNA and RNA were purified from pooled samples to characterize both DNA and RNA viruses. RNA samples were converted to cDNA and the combined DNA/cDNA libraries were sequenced using 454 technology. We used a modified BLAST workflow to analyze the sequences. Overall, 51 different species of viruses were identified in the female Aedes aegypti sample, and 40 different species were found in the male Aedes aegypti sample. Interestingly, the female sample carried more RNA viruses than the male sample, although further work will reveal if this finding is significant or an experimental artifact. We plan to further analyze the sequence libraries obtained, with particular focus on unknown sequences. We have recently been building libraries from new samples of other species typically found in our area, such as Culex and Anopheles. These analyses will help better understand the viral collections carried by different mosquitos in the Greater Houston area.