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. 2022 Sep 26:55:e0067.
doi: 10.1590/0037-8682-0067-2022. eCollection 2022.

Characterization of insect-specific Culex flavivirus (Flaviviridae) nucleotide sequences in mosquitoes from urban parks in São Paulo, Brazil

Thaís de Moura Coletti  1   2 , Camila Malta Romano  3 , Paulo Roberto Urbinatti  4 , Renildo Souza Teixeira  5 , Leila Weiss de Almeida Pedrosa  6 , Marcello Schiavo Nardi  6 , Delsio Natal  4 , Antônio Charlys da Costa  7 , Jaqueline Goes de Jesus  2 , Ingra Morales Claro  2 , Ester Cerdeira Sabino  2 , Steven S Witkin  7   8 , Mauro Toledo Marrelli  4 , Licia Natal Fernandes  1
Affiliations

Characterization of insect-specific Culex flavivirus (Flaviviridae) nucleotide sequences in mosquitoes from urban parks in São Paulo, Brazil

Thaís de Moura Coletti et al. Rev Soc Bras Med Trop. .

Abstract

Background: Despite their worldwide occurrence, the distribution and role of insect-specific flaviviruses (ISFs) remain unclear.

Methods: We evaluated the presence of ISFs in mosquitoes collected in São Paulo, Brazil, using reverse transcription and semi-nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Some of the positive samples were subjected to nanopore sequencing.

Results: Twelve mosquito pools (2.8%) tested positive for flavivirus infection. Nanopore sequencing was successfully performed on six samples. Phylogenetic analysis grouped these sequences into genotype 2 of Culex flavivirus (CxFV).

Conclusions: The identification of CxFV genotype 2 at new locations in São Paulo highlights the importance of understanding the role of ISFs in mosquito vector competence.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1:
FIGURE 1:. Maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree of the 982 bp fragments of the NS5 gene of flavivirus. In red, sequences generated in the present study (see additional information in Table 2). In black, CxFV reference sequences retrieved from GenBank (represented with their GenBank accession numbers, place, and date of sample collection). A reference sequence from CFAV was used as an outgroup.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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