Identification of a newly discovered virus from Culex and Armigeres mosquitoes in China

Mosquito associated virus have always been a significant threat to global health. Metagenomics offers a straightforward and quantitative means to acquire the information of novel virus and has greatly enriched the content of mosquito associated virus databases. During an entomological surveillance for arthropod-borne viruses in China, we identified a previously unrecognized virus from mosquitoes, temporarily named Huajieling virus. In this study, a total of 3,960 mosquitoes were collected and then divided into 91 pools, according to location and species. QRT-PCR and nested PCR were performed to confirm the presence of Huajieling virus. Its genomic features and phylogenetic relationships were further analyzed. Our results showed that Huajieling virus was detected in 7 of the 91 mosquito pools and that the minimum infection rate (MIR) was 0.18% (7/3,960). One complete genome sequence and 2 viral partial sequences were obtained from the Huajieling virus-positive pools. Pairwise distances analysis indicated that these amplified sequences shared high nucleotide identity. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that Huajieling virus is most closely related to Wufeng shrew picorna-like virus 43, which belonging to Picornavirales. Further analyses indicated that Huajieling virus is a new member of unclassified Picornavirales, and is intermediate between the family Caliciviridae and Secoviridae in taxonomic status.