An RNA Virome Analysis of the Pink-Winged Grasshopper Atractomorpha sinensis

Abstract

A large number of RNA viruses have been discovered in most insect orders using high-throughput sequencing (HTS) and advanced bioinformatics methods. In this study, an RNA virome of the grasshopper was systematically identified in Atractomorpha sinensis (Orthoptera: Pyrgomorphidae), an important agricultural pest known as the pink-winged grasshopper. These insect viruses were classified as the nege-like virus, iflavirus, ollusvirus, and chu-like virus using HTS and phylogenetic analyses. Meanwhile, the full sequences of four novel RNA viruses were obtained with RACE and named Atractomorpha sinensis nege-like virus 1 (ASNV1), Atractomorpha sinensis iflavirus 1 (ASIV1), Atractomorpha sinensis ollusvirus 1 (ASOV1), and Atractomorpha sinensis chu-like virus 1 (ASCV1), respectively. Moreover, the analysis of virus-derived small interfering RNAs showed that most of the RNA viruses were targeted by the host antiviral RNA interference pathway. Moreover, our results provide a comprehensive analysis on the RNA virome of A. sinensis.

WIV, a protein domain found in a wide number of arthropod viruses, which probably facilitates infection

“…In 10 viruses, the genome contains an unannotated coding sequence with significant similarity to WIV, detectable by using the software tblastn (see Methods). These viruses comprise Muthill virus, Bofa virus, Buckhurst virus and Marsac virus [35], Beult virus [29], Ceratitis capitata Negev-like virus 2 [36], Atractomorpha sinensis Negev-like virus 1 [37], Solenopsis invicta virus 8 [33], Hubei picorna-like virus 36 and bat tymo-like virus (GenBank accession number NC_030844). We included the WIV domain of these viruses in the alignment presented in File S1.…”