A novel negevirus isolated from Aedes vexans mosquitoes in Finland

Abstract

Negeviruses are insect-specific enveloped RNA viruses that have been detected in mosquitoes and sandflies from various geographical locations. Here, we describe a new negevirus from Northern Europe, isolated from pool of Aedes vexans mosquitoes collected in Finland, designated as Mekrijärvi negevirus (MEJNV). MEJNV had a typical negevirus genome organization, is 9,740 nucleotides in length, and has a GC content of 47.53%. The MEJNV genome contains three ORFs, each containing the following identified conserved domains: ORF1 (7,068 nt) encodes a viral methyltransferase, an FtsJ-like methyltransferase, a viral RNA helicase, and an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, ORF2 (1,242 nt) encodes a putative virion glycoprotein, and ORF3 (660 nt) encodes a putative virion membrane protein. A distinctive feature relative to other currently known negeviruses is a 7-nucleotide-long overlap between ORF1 and ORF2. MEJNV shares the highest sequence identity with Ying Kou virus from China, with 67.71% nucleotide and 75.19% and 59.00% amino acid sequence identity in ORF 1 and ORF 2, respectively. ORF3 had the highest amino acid sequence similarity to Daeseongdong virus 1 and negevirus Nona 1, both with 77.61% identity, and to Ying Kou virus, with 71.22% identity. MEJNV is currently the northernmost negevirus described. Our report supports the view that negeviruses are a globally distributed, diverse group of viruses that can be found from mosquitoes in a wide range of terrestrial biomes from tropical to boreal forests.

Characterisation of the RNA Virome of Nine Ochlerotatus Species in Finland

“…This study has significantly increased the number of locations from which virus-positive mosquitoes have been collected in Finland. Prior studies have detected Hanko and Inkoo viruses from Uusimaa [ 3 , 4 , 8 ], Lammi virus from Kainuu, Pohjois-Karjala and Päijät-Häme [ 7 , 9 ], Chatanga virus from Kainuu (same location as for Lammi virus) and Pohjois-Karjala [ 5 ], Ilomantsi virus from Pohjois-Karjala [ 9 ], Sindbis virus from Pohjois-Karjala [ 1 , 2 ] and finally Mekrijärvi negevirus from Pohjois-Karjala [ 10 ]. In all, these viruses were found in only 4 of the 19 regions, and from only seven approximate locations, since six publications all included specimens from around Mekrijärvi in Pohjois-Karjala.…”

“…Of these, Lammi and Ilomantsi viruses represent a separate flavivirus group genetically associated with vector-borne flaviviruses. Most recently, a novel Negevirus was isolated from mosquitoes collected in eastern Finland [ 10 ].…”

Complete genome sequence of a novel nege-like virus in aphids (genus Indomegoura)

“…ORF2 and ORF3 of INLV1 possessed the conserved domains of DiSB-ORF2_chro (a putative virion glycoprotein, PF16506) and SP24 (a putative virion membrane protein, PF16504), respectively (Fig. 1 a), which were similar to another negevirus isolated from Aedes vexans mosquitoes in Finland [ 16 ]. According to previous studies, overlaps between different ORFs of negeviruses are common [ 8 , 10 ].…”

Metatranscriptomic analysis of common mosquito vector species in the Canadian Prairies

“…These viruses were primarily discovered in Aedes and/or Ochlerotatus species from Finland (Suvanto et al 2020;Nguyen et al 2022), Australia (Shi et al 2017;Ramírez et al 2020;Ortiz-Baez et al 2022), and Central Europe (Reuter et al 2016), but also through meta-analysis (Parry et al 2021) and unpublished GenBank deposits. Future studies are needed to determine if these viruses are truly ISVs (i.e., do not infect vertebrates) and their potential application as biomarkers, in biocontrol, and/or disrupting mosquito vectorial capacity.…”