Intra-host growth kinetics of dengue virus in the mosquito Aedes aegypti

Mario Novelo; Matthew D Hall; Damie Pak; Paul R Young; Edward C Holmes; Elizabeth A McGraw

doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1008218

Intra-host growth kinetics of dengue virus in the mosquito Aedes aegypti

PLoS Pathog. 2019 Dec 2;15(12):e1008218. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1008218. eCollection 2019 Dec.

Authors

Mario Novelo^{1

2}, Matthew D Hall¹, Damie Pak³, Paul R Young⁴, Edward C Holmes⁵, Elizabeth A McGraw^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
² Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, Department of Entomology, The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
³ Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, Department of Biology, The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
⁴ Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia.
⁵ Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Charles Perkins Centre, School of Life and Environmental Sciences and Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Abstract

Dengue virus (DENV) transmission by mosquitoes is a time-dependent process that begins with the consumption of an infectious blood-meal. DENV infection then proceeds stepwise through the mosquito from the midgut to the carcass, and ultimately to the salivary glands, where it is secreted into saliva and then transmitted anew on a subsequent bite. We examined viral kinetics in tissues of the Aedes aegypti mosquito over a finely graded time course, and as per previous studies, found that initial viral dose and serotype strain diversity control infectivity. We also found that a threshold level of virus is required to establish body-wide infections and that replication kinetics in the early and intermediate tissues do not predict those of the salivary glands. Our findings have implications for mosquito GMO design, modeling the contribution of transmission to vector competence and the role of mosquito kinetics in the overall DENV epidemiological landscape.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aedes
Animals
Dengue / virology*
Dengue Virus*
Host-Parasite Interactions / physiology*
Kinetics
Mosquito Vectors / virology*
Virus Replication

Associated data

figshare/10.6084/m9.figshare.10277951

Grants and funding

This study was funded by Australian Research Council to EAM and PRY (DP160100588). This study was also funded by Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship to ECH (FL170100022). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.