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Spatial scale influences the distribution of viral diversity in the eukaryotic virome of the mosquito Culex pipiens

2023; University of Oxford; Volume: 9; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/ve/vead054

2057-1577

Patricia Gil, Antoni Exbrayat, Étienne Loire, Ignace Rakotoarivony, Florian Charriat, Côme Morel, Thierry Baldet, Michel Boisseau, Albane Marie, Benoît Francés, Grégory L’Ambert, Mohamed Bessat, Yehia Otify, Maria Goffredo, Giuseppe Mancini, Núria Busquets, Lotty Birnberg, Sandra Talavera, Carles Aranda, Emna Ayari, Selma Mejri, Soufien Sghaier, Amal Bennouna, Hicham El Rhaffouli, Thomas Balenghien, Ghita Chlyeh, Ouafaa Fassi Fihri, Julie Réveillaud, Yannick Simonin, Marc Éloit, Serafín Gutiérrez,

Evolution and Genetic Dynamics

Abstract Our knowledge of the diversity of eukaryotic viruses has recently undergone a massive expansion. This diversity could influence host physiology through yet unknown phenomena of potential interest to the fields of health and food production. However, the assembly processes of this diversity remain elusive in the eukaryotic viromes of terrestrial animals. This situation hinders hypothesis-driven tests of virome influence on host physiology. Here, we compare taxonomic diversity between different spatial scales in the eukaryotic virome of the mosquito Culex pipiens. This mosquito is a vector of human pathogens worldwide. The experimental design involved sampling in five countries in Africa and Europe around the Mediterranean Sea and large mosquito numbers to ensure a thorough exploration of virus diversity. A group of viruses was found in all countries. This core group represented a relatively large and diverse fraction of the virome. However, certain core viruses were not shared by all host individuals in a given country, and their infection rates fluctuated between countries and years. Moreover, the distribution of coinfections in individual mosquitoes suggested random co-occurrence of those core viruses. Our results also suggested differences in viromes depending on geography, with viromes tending to cluster depending on the continent. Thus, our results unveil that the overlap in taxonomic diversity can decrease with spatial scale in the eukaryotic virome of C. pipiens. Furthermore, our results show that integrating contrasted spatial scales allows us to identify assembly patterns in the mosquito virome. Such patterns can guide future studies of virome influence on mosquito physiology.