A New Orbivirus Isolated from Mosquitoes in North-Western Australia Shows Antigenic and Genetic Similarity to Corriparta Virus but Does Not Replicate in Vertebrate Cells
Jessica J. Harrison,
David Warrilow,
Breeanna J. McLean,
Daniel Watterson,
Caitlin A. O’Brien,
Agathe M.G. Colmant,
Cheryl A. Johansen,
Ross T. Barnard,
Sonja Hall-Mendelin,
Steven S. Davis,
Roy A. Hall,
Jody Hobson-Peters
Affiliations
Jessica J. Harrison
Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia 4072, Australia
David Warrilow
Public Health Virology Laboratory, Department of Health, Queensland Government, P.O. Box 594, Archerfield 4108, Australia
Breeanna J. McLean
Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia 4072, Australia
Daniel Watterson
Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia 4072, Australia
Caitlin A. O’Brien
Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia 4072, Australia
Agathe M.G. Colmant
Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia 4072, Australia
Cheryl A. Johansen
School of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, The University of Western Australia, Nedlands 6009, Australia
Ross T. Barnard
Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia 4072, Australia
Sonja Hall-Mendelin
Public Health Virology Laboratory, Department of Health, Queensland Government, P.O. Box 594, Archerfield 4108, Australia
Steven S. Davis
Berrimah Veterinary Laboratory, Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Darwin 0828, Australia
Roy A. Hall
Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia 4072, Australia
Jody Hobson-Peters
Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia 4072, Australia
The discovery and characterisation of new mosquito-borne viruses provides valuable information on the biodiversity of vector-borne viruses and important insights into their evolution. In this study, a broad-spectrum virus screening system, based on the detection of long double-stranded RNA in inoculated cell cultures, was used to investigate the presence of novel viruses in mosquito populations of northern Australia. We detected and isolated a new virus (tentatively named Parry’s Lagoon virus, PLV) from Culex annulirostris, Culex pullus, Mansonia uniformis and Aedes normanensis mosquitoes that shares genomic sequence similarities to Corriparta virus (CORV), a member of the Orbivirus genus of the family Reoviridae. Despite moderate to high (72.2% to 92.2%) amino acid identity across all proteins when compared to CORV, and demonstration of antigenic relatedness, PLV did not replicate in several vertebrate cell lines that were permissive to CORV. This striking phenotypic difference suggests that PLV has evolved to have a very restricted host range, indicative of a mosquito-only life cycle.
