Isolation and phylogenetic analysis of Sindbis viruses from mosquitoes in Germany

Abstract

A molecular survey of 16,057 mosquitoes captured in Southwest Germany during the summer of 2009 demonstrated the presence of Sindbis virus (SINV) in Culex spp. and Anopheles maculipennis sensu lato. Phylogenetic analysis of the German SINV strains linked them with Swedish SINV strains, the causative agent of Ockelbo disease in humans.

FIG. 1.

Location of the study area (box) in Europe and locations of the study sites, Kühkopf (49°49′N, 8°24′E), Waghäusel (49°15′N, 8°31′E), and Weinheim (49°33′N, 8°40′E). For each trapping site, the proportions of collected mosquitoes are given as a pie chart. Mosquitoes that assayed positive for Sindbis virus were exclusively trapped at Weinheim (in bold and underlined).

FIG. 2.

Bayesian phylogenetic tree based on partial structural polyprotein nucleotide sequences (length, 2,116 nucleotides) of Sindbis virus strains. For each sequence used, the GenBank accession number, strain designation, and strain origin are shown. Phylogenetic analysis was performed using MrBayes 3.0 (12) with a general time-reversible (GTR) substitution model. Posterior probabilities are shown on each node. Scale bar indicates number of nucleotide substitutions per site. One partial structural polyprotein nucleotide sequence of Whataroa virus is used as an outgroup.