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Updated: May 21, 2026
Alphavirus Transducing System: Tools for Visualizing Infection in Mosquito Vectors
Published on: November 24, 2010
Complete coding sequence and molecular epidemiological analysis of Sindbis virus isolates from mosquitoes and humans,
Jussi Sane1, Satu Kurkela2,1, Niina Putkuri1
1Infection Biology Research Program, Department of Virology, Haartman Institute, Faculty of Medicine, PO Box 21, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Abstract:
Sindbis virus (SINV) is an arthropod-borne alphavirus, which causes rash-arthritis, particularly in Finland. SINV is transmitted by mosquitoes in Finland but thus far no virus has been isolated from mosquitoes. In this study, we report the isolation of the first SINV strain from mosquitoes in Finland and its full-length protein-coding sequence. We furthermore describe the full-length coding sequence of six SINV strains previously isolated from humans in Finland and from a mosquito in Russia. The strain isolated from mosquitoes (Ilomantsi-2005M) was very closely related to all the other Northern European SINV strains. We found 9 aa positions, of which five in the nsP3 protein C terminus, to be distinctive signatures for the Northern European strains that may be associated with vector or host species adaptation. Phylogenetic analyses further indicate that SINV has a local circulation in endemic regions in Northern Europe and no novel strains are frequently being introduced.
