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. 2014 Jul 31;8(7):e2990.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0002990. eCollection 2014.

Evidence of experimental vertical transmission of emerging novel ECSA genotype of Chikungunya Virus in Aedes aegypti

Ankita Agarwal  1 , Paban Kumar Dash  1 , Anil Kumar Singh  2 , Shashi Sharma  1 , Natarajan Gopalan  2 , Putcha Venkata Lakshmana Rao  1 , Man Mohan Parida  1 , Paul Reiter  3
Affiliations

Evidence of experimental vertical transmission of emerging novel ECSA genotype of Chikungunya Virus in Aedes aegypti

Ankita Agarwal et al. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. .

Abstract

Background: Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) has emerged as one of the most important arboviruses of public health significance in the past decade. The virus is mainly maintained through human-mosquito-human cycle. Other routes of transmission and the mechanism of maintenance of the virus in nature are not clearly known. Vertical transmission may be a mechanism of sustaining the virus during inter-epidemic periods. Laboratory experiments were conducted to determine whether Aedes aegypti, a principal vector, is capable of vertically transmitting CHIKV or not.

Methodology/principal findings: Female Ae. aegypti were orally infected with a novel ECSA genotype of CHIKV in the 2nd gonotrophic cycle. On day 10 post infection, a non-infectious blood meal was provided to obtain another cycle of eggs. Larvae and adults developed from the eggs obtained following both infectious and non-infectious blood meal were tested for the presence of CHIKV specific RNA through real time RT-PCR. The results revealed that the larvae and adults developed from eggs derived from the infectious blood meal (2nd gonotrophic cycle) were negative for CHIKV RNA. However, the larvae and adults developed after subsequent non-infectious blood meal (3rd gonotrophic cycle) were positive with minimum filial infection rates of 28.2 (1∶35.5) and 20.2 (1∶49.5) respectively.

Conclusion/significance: This study is the first to confirm experimental vertical transmission of emerging novel ECSA genotype of CHIKV in Ae. aegypti from India, indicating the possibilities of occurrence of this phenomenon in nature. This evidence may have important consequence for survival of CHIKV during adverse climatic conditions and inter-epidemic periods.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Schematic representation of the experimental design.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Vertical transmission of Chikungunya virus in Ae. aegypti as determined by measuring log10 RNA copies/pool of larvae and adults by real time RT-PCR.
Horizontal line represent mean value for each group. Asterisks are indicating significant differences between the two groups (**p<0.01).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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