Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes do not support replication of Zika virus

The rapid spread of Zika virus (ZIKV) in the Americas brought many questions on the role of Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes in transmission, in addition to the key role played by the vector Aedes aegypti. Here we analysed the competence of Cx. quinquefasciatus(with or without Wolbachia endosymbionts) for a ZIKV isolate. We also examined the induction of RNA interference (RNAi) pathways after viral challenge and production virus-derived small RNAs. We did not observe any infection nor such virus-derived small RNAs, regardless of presence or absence of Wolbachia. Thus, Cx. quinquefasciatus do not support ZIKV replication and Wolbachia is not involved in producing this phenotype. In short, these mosquitoes are very unlikely to play a role in transmission of ZIKV.