Large-scale metagenomic surveillance study expands the known diversity of RNA viruses in mosquito populations from the Amazon Basin

Fuques, Eddie, Massey, Aimee L., Qureshi, Faris, Campos-Silva, João Vitor, Ferreira da Silva, David J., Peres, Carlos A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1588-8765, Levi, Taal and Vega Thurber, Rebecca L. (2026) Large-scale metagenomic surveillance study expands the known diversity of RNA viruses in mosquito populations from the Amazon Basin. PeerJ, 14. ISSN 2167-8359

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Abstract

The Amazon Basin is one of the most biologically diverse regions on Earth, yet its viral diversity remains poorly characterized. Mosquitoes are important vectors and reservoirs of RNA viruses, but little is known about the composition and structure of their viromes in remote areas of the Amazon. In this study, we performed a large-scale metagenomics survey of RNA viruses associated with mosquito populations collected from the Jurua River region in the Western Amazon Basin of Brazil. We analyzed 211 pooled samples of adult female mosquitoes collected across thirty-seven sites, representing one of the most comprehensive mosquito virome studies conducted in this region to date. Utilizing high-throughput sequencing and de novo assembly, we identified over 500 viral sequences from 18 families, including 21 complete or nearly complete genomes. Our analysis revealed 18 putative novel viral species spanning diverse families and strains of nine previously described viruses. Phylogenetic analyses also revealed undocumented diversity within several virus families, including Iflaviridae, Mesoniviridae, Phasmaviridae, Phenuiviridae, Togaviridae, and Totiviridae, encompassing both novel species and previously known viruses detected for the first time in this region. Our findings highlight the immense, yet largely unexplored, diversity of RNA viruses circulating in mosquito populations in this ecologically rich but understudied region and provide critical insights into the evolutionary dynamics of mosquito-associated viruses. By leveraging high-throughput sequencing to uncover novel viral strains, this research demonstrates the value of metagenomic approaches in expanding the known diversity, distribution, and evolutionary relationships of RNA viruses, contributing to a broader understanding of virus-mosquito interactions and genome evolution.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Data Availability: The following information was supplied regarding data availability: The 65 viral sequences are available in the Genbank database (Table 1). Raw sequencing data is available at the NCBI repository under BioProject PRJNA1223432.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	amazon basin,insect-specific viruses,mosquito virome,rna viruses,viral ecology,general neuroscience,general medicine,general biochemistry,genetics and molecular biology,general agricultural and biological sciences ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2800/2800
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Environmental Biology
Related URLs:	https://www.scopus.com/pages/publication...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	04 Aug 2026 12:15
Last Modified:	09 Aug 2026 05:31
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/103971
DOI:	10.7717/peerj.20880

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