RNA Virus Diversity in Tropical Mosquitoes and Effects of Virus Interactions in Vectors and Hosts“ Selbstständig Und Ohne Unerlaubte Hilfe Angefertigt Habe
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RNA virus diversity in tropical mosquitoes and effects of virus interactions in vectors and hosts Inaugural-Dissertation to obtain the academic degree Doctor rerum naturalium (Dr. rer. nat.) submitted to the Department of Biology, Chemistry and Pharmacy of Freie Universität Berlin by Kyra Hermanns 2019 This dissertation was conducted from 2015 to 2017 at the Institute of Virology at the University Hospital of Bonn and from 2017 to 2019 at the Institute of Virology at the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin in the research group “Ecology and evolution of arboviruses” of PD Dr. Sandra Junglen. 1st Reviewer: PD Dr. Sandra Junglen 2nd Reviewer: Prof. Dr. Dino McMahon Date of defense: 08.06.2020 This dissertation is based on the following manuscripts: Chapter I: Hermanns, K., Zirkel, F., Junglen S. (2019). Mosquito community composition shapes virus prevalence patterns. (Manuscript in preparation) Author contributions: Conceptualization, S.J. and K.H.; Investigation, K.H. and F.Z.; Formal Analysis, K.H.; Resources, S.J.; Funding Acquisition, S.J.; Writing - Original Draft Preparation, K.H. and S.J.; Writing - Review & Editing, all authors. Chapter II: Hermanns, K., Zirkel, F., Kopp, A., Marklewitz, M., Rwego, I.B., Estrada, A., Gillespie, T.R., Drosten, C., Junglen, S. (2017). Discovery of a novel alphavirus related to Eilat virus. Journal of General Virology 98, 43-49, doi:10.1099/jgv.0.000694. Author contributions: Conceptualization, K.H. and S.J.; Formal Analysis, K.H.; Funding Acquisition, S.J. and C.D.; Investigation, K.H. and F.Z.; Resources, F.Z., A.K., M.M., I.B.R., A.E., T.R.G, S.J. and C.D.; Writing – Original Draft Preparation, K.H.; Writing – Review & Editing, all authors. Chapter III: Hermanns, K., Marklewitz, M., Zirkel, F., Overheul, G.J., Page, R.A., Loaiza, J.R., Drosten, C., van Rij, R.P., Junglen, S. (2019). Agua Salud alphavirus defines a novel lineage of insect-specific alphaviruses discovered in the New World. Journal of General Virology, doi:10.1099/jgv.0.001344. Author contributions: Conceptualization: K.H. and S.J.; Investigation: K.H., M.M., G.J.O. and F.Z.; Formal Analysis: K.H. and R.P.V.R.; Resources: M.M., R.A.P., J.R.L., S.J. and C.D.; Funding Acquisition: S.J. and R.P.V.R; Writing – Original Draft Preparation, K.H.; Writing – Review & Editing, all authors. Chapter IV: Hermanns, K., Zirkel, F., Marklewitz, M., Junglen, S. (2019). Interactions between naturally co-occurring mosquito-associated viruses. (Manuscript in preparation) Author contributions: Conceptualization, K.H. and S.J.; Investigation, K.H. and F.Z.; Formal Analysis, K.H.; Resources, M.M. and S.J.; Funding Acquisition, S.J.; Writing - Original Draft Preparation, K.H.; Writing - Review & Editing, all authors. Chapter V: Hermanns, K., Göhner, C., Kopp, A., Schmidt, A., Merz, W.M., Markert, U.R., Junglen, S., Drosten, C. (2018). Zika virus infection in human placental tissue explants is enhanced in the presence of dengue virus antibodies in-vitro. Emerging Microbes & Infections 7, 198, doi:10.1038/s41426-018-0199-6. Author contributions: C.D., W.M., and U.M. conceived the work. C.D., K.H., C.G., and S.J. designed the work. K.H., C.G., A.K., and A.S. acquired data. K.H., C.D., C.G., and S.J. interpreted the results. K.H. and C.D. drafted the original manuscript. All authors revised the manuscript and approved the final version. Table of Content Summary ...................................................................................................................................... 1 Zusammenfassung ....................................................................................................................... 3 General Introduction .................................................................................................................. 5 Emerging viruses ...................................................................................................................... 5 Arboviruses and insect-specific viruses ................................................................................... 6 Habitat diversity and infections ............................................................................................... 9 Multiple virus infections ........................................................................................................ 11 Objective of the thesis ............................................................................................................. 14 References ............................................................................................................................... 16 Chapter I – A multi-taxa gradient study on virus diversity and prevalence patterns ........ 24 Chapter II – Discovery of Taï Forest alphavirus .................................................................... 52 Chapter III – Characterization of Agua Salud alphavirus .................................................... 65 Chapter IV – Co- and superinfections of mosquito-associated viruses ................................ 85 Chapter V – Enhancement of ZIKV by DENV antibodies in placenta explants ............... 106 General Discussion .................................................................................................................. 122 Mosquito-associated viruses................................................................................................. 122 Interplay between diversity and virus infections ................................................................. 124 Virus interactions in mosquitoes ......................................................................................... 125 Antibody-dependent enhancement ....................................................................................... 127 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 129 References ............................................................................................................................. 130 Statement of authorship.......................................................................................................... 139 Acknowledgement ................................................................................................................... 140 List of publications .................................................................................................................. 141 Summary Summary Mosquitoes transmit important infectious diseases such as yellow fever or dengue fever. Understanding emergence processes and knowledge about diversity of mosquito- associated viruses can help to identify control strategies for these viruses. As part of this thesis, novel mosquito viruses were characterized, and the impact of ecological changes and mixed infections was assessed. A large diversity of 49 viruses from the families Flavi-, Rhabdo-, Reo-, Toga-, Mesoni- and Iflaviridae and the order Bunyavirales was detected in mosquitoes that were sampled in Côte d’Ivoire along an anthropogenic disturbance gradient. The majority of these viruses occurred at a low level, but nine viruses were detected frequently. Five of those viruses showed a clear increase in prevalence towards the disturbed habitats. It was shown that virus prevalence was determined by abundance rates of the main mosquito host species and not by changes in host infection rates. In the mosquitoes from Côte d’Ivoire, a previously unknown alphavirus (Taï Forest alphavirus, TALV) was discovered. The complete genome of TALV was sequenced. TALV represents a suggested novel alphavirus species which belongs to the same phylogenetic clade as the only previously detected insect-specific alphavirus Eilat virus (EILV). Since alphaviruses are rarely found in mosquitoes, additional mosquitoes from Panama were tested. Another novel alphavirus (Agua Salud alphavirus, ASALV) was detected in these samples. ASALV was isolated and characterized in cell culture. As ASALV was temperature-sensitive and could not infect cell lines derived from poikilothermic vertebrates, ASALV is likely an insect-specific alphavirus. Phylogenetic analyses placed ASALV on a solitary branch in basal relationship to EILV and TALV as well as to the arboviruses of the Western equine encephalitis complex. Mosquitoes can be simultaneously infected with different viruses possibly resulting in virus interactions. Mixed infections in cell culture with two co-occurring bunyaviruses as well as ASALV and a negevirus detected in the same mosquito showed no effect on replication. However, the cytopathogenicity of ASALV and the negevirus was increased in mixed infections from which the viruses might profit in vivo. In contrast, herbeviruses inhibited a superinfection with another herbevirus. This ability to restrict infections with a related virus might also influence vector competence for arboviruses. 1 Summary When arboviruses infect humans, they can interact with antibodies that were produced against previous virus infections. These antibodies can cross-react with closely related viruses and enhance the infection. This mechanism was suspected after the Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreak in South America as the seroprevalence of the related dengue virus (DENV) was high and a new ZIKV symptom in neonates (microcephaly) was observed. Placenta explants were infected with ZIKV that was pre-incubated with DENV-immune sera or control sera. It was shown that pre-incubation with DENV-immune sera resulted in a faster ZIKV replication and a higher placenta explant