Novel virus discovery in mosquitoes and related insects.. insect metagenome

We investigated the diversity of RNA viruses in field-collected mosquitoes and chironomids (Diptera) using total RNA deep sequencing of insect samples to assemble virus genomes with minimal a priori knowledge. Using this strategy, we sequenced from adult Anopheles mosquitoes the apparently nearly complete genome of one previously undescribed virus related to chronic bee paralysis virus, and, from a pool of Ochlerotatus mosquitoes, a nearly complete entomobirnavirus genome. We also reconstructed long sequences (1503-6557 nt) related to at least nine further viruses. Several of the sequences detected were reconstructed from host organisms highly divergent from those in which related viruses have been previously isolated or discovered. Our results suggest that viral transmission and maintenance cycles in nature are likely to be significantly more complex and taxonomically diverse than previously expected, and also have potential relevance to biological control strategies.