Publications

Enhanced vector borne disease surveillance of California Culex mosquito populations reveals spatial and species-specific barriers of infection

VanderNoot, Victoria A.; Curtis, Deanna J.; Koh, Chung-Yan K.; Brodsky, Benjamin H.; Lane, Todd L.

Monitor i ng in f ectio n s in v ect o rs su c h as m osquit o es, s a nd fl i es, tsetse fl i es, a nd ticks to i denti f y hu m a n path o gens m a y s e r v e as a n ear l y w arn i ng det e ction system t o dir e ct loc a l g o v er n ment dise a se pr e v en t i v e m easu r e s . One major hurdle i n de t ection is the abi l i t y to scre e n l arge n u mbers of v e c t ors for h uman patho g ens w i thout t h e u s e of ge n o t y pe - s p ecific m o lecu l ar tec h nique s . N e x t genera t ion s equ e nc i ng (NG S ) pr o v i des a n unbi a sed p latfo r m capab l e of identi f y i ng k n o w n a n d unk n o w n p ath o ge n s circula t ing w i thin a v e ctor p opul a tion, but utili z ing t h is te c h nolo g y i s tim e - con s u ming a n d cos t l y for v ecto r -b o rne disease su r v e illan c e pr o gra m s. T o addr e s s this w e d e v e lop e d cos t -eff e ct i v e Ilumina(r) R NA- S eq l i bra r y p r epara t ion m e thodol o gies i n con j u n ction w i t h an automa t ed c ompu t at i onal a n a l y sis pipel i n e to ch a racter i ze t h e microbial popula t ions c ircula t i n g in Cu l e x m o squit o e s (Cul e x qui n quef a s c iatu s , C ul e x quinq u efasc i atus / pip i ens co m pl e x h y bri d s, and C u l e x ta r salis ) t hroug h out Californ i a. W e assembled 2 0 n o vel a n d w e l l -do c ume n ted a r b o v i ruses repres e nting mem b e rs of B u n y a v ir i da e , F l a v i virid a e, If a virida e , Meson i v i rida e , Nid o v iri d ae, O rtho m y x o virid a e, Pa r v o v iri d ae, Re o virid a e, R h a b d o v i rid a e, T y m o v iri d ae, a s w ell as s e v e r al u n assi g n e d v irus e s . In addit i o n, w e m app e d mRNA s pecies to d i vergent s peci e s of t r y panos o ma a nd pl a s modium eu k a r yotic parasit e s and cha r a c terized t he p r oka r yot i c microb i al c o mposit i on to i d enti f y bacteri a l tran s c r ipts der i v ed from wolba c hia, clo s tridi u m, m y c oplas m a, fusoba c terium and c am p y l o bacter bac t er i al spec i e s . W e utilized the s e mic r obial transcri p tomes pre s e nt in g e ogra p hical l y defined Cul e x po p ul a tions to defi n e spatial and m osqui t o specie s -spec i fic ba r r iers of i n fecti o n. T he v i r ome and microbi o me c o mpos i tion id e ntified in e ach mosqui t o p o ol pr o v i ded suf f icient resolut i on to dete r m i ne both the mosq u ito species and the g e o graphic regi o n in Californ i a w h e re t h e mosqui t o po o l orig i n ated. T his d a ta pr o v i des ins i ght in t o the compl e x i t y of microb i al spec i es cir c ulati n g in med i cal l y i mport a nt Culex mosqui t oes a nd t h eir potent i al im p act o n t he tran s missi o n of v ector-b o rne human / veter i na r y p a t hogens in C a liforn i a.