Virome dynamics of Aedes albopictus during the 2025 chikungunya outbreak in Foshan.
4 affiliations
- 1School of Public Health, Shenzhen University Medical School, Shenzhen, China.
- 2Foshan Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Foshan, Guangdong, China.
- 3Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Infection Immunity and Inflammation, Department of Pathogen Biology, Shenzhen University Medical School, Shenzhen, China.
- 4Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Pathogen Detection for Emerging Infectious Disease Response, Guangdong Workstation for Emerging Infectious Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
Abstract
Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) has re-emerged globally, yet little is known about how natural CHIKV transmission influences the resident virome of mosquito vectors under field conditions. Here, we combined continuous entomological surveillance, viral genomics and metagenomic sequencing to characterize CHIKV transmission and virome dynamics in Aedes albopictus during the 2025 chikungunya outbreak in Foshan, China. Mosquitoes were continuously collected throughout the outbreak using pooled and individual sampling strategies, and viral metagenomic sequencing was performed to compare virome composition between CHIKV-positive and CHIKV-negative mosquitoes. CHIKV-positive mosquitoes first appeared shortly after the onset of local human transmission and expanded geographically in parallel with the epidemic. Mosquito- and human-derived CHIKV genomes were nearly identical and belonged to a genetically homogeneous East/Central/South African (ECSA) lineage, supporting sustained local mosquito-human transmission. Despite widespread CHIKV circulation, the resident mosquito virome remained broadly stable, with sampling time contributing more to virome variation than CHIKV infection status. Only two resident viruses, Orthophasmavirus barstukorius and Guato virus, were significantly associated with CHIKV infection. Integration of pooled and individual sequencing further showed that pooled samples reliably represented the population-level core virome, whereas individual mosquitoes revealed substantial inter-individual heterogeneity. Five previously undescribed RNA viruses were also identified, expanding the known virosphere of Ae. albopictus. Together, our findings show that natural CHIKV emergence is accompanied by limited species-specific shifts rather than wholesale restructuring of the resident mosquito virome, and highlight the value of integrating genomic and metagenomic surveillance into vector-borne disease monitoring.
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BibTeX
@article{wang2026virome,
title = {{Virome dynamics of Aedes albopictus during the 2025 chikungunya outbreak in Foshan.}},
author = {Tong Wang and Yi Xie and Shizhen Liu and Yuanpeng Xin and Jianwen You and Hui Zeng and Huaiyuan Wang and Yanrong Li and Baisheng Li and Xinchun Chen and Xing Liu and Jintao Liang and Chenyan Shi},
journal = {Current research in microbial sciences},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.crmicr.2026.100667},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42909071},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Virome dynamics of Aedes albopictus during the 2025 chikungunya outbreak in Foshan.
AU - Tong Wang
AU - Yi Xie
AU - Shizhen Liu
AU - Yuanpeng Xin
AU - Jianwen You
AU - Hui Zeng
AU - Huaiyuan Wang
AU - Yanrong Li
AU - Baisheng Li
AU - Xinchun Chen
AU - Xing Liu
AU - Jintao Liang
AU - Chenyan Shi
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/08
JO - Current research in microbial sciences
DO - 10.1016/j.crmicr.2026.100667
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42909071
AB - Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) has re-emerged globally, yet little is known about how natural CHIKV transmission influences the resident virome of mosquito vectors under field conditions. Here, we combined continuous entomological surveillance, viral genomics and metagenomic sequencing to characterize CHIKV transmission and virome dynamics in Aedes albopictus during the 2025 chikungunya outbreak in Foshan, China. Mosquitoes were continuously collected throughout the outbreak using pooled and individual sampling strategies, and viral metagenomic sequencing was performed to compare virome composition between CHIKV-positive and CHIKV-negative mosquitoes. CHIKV-positive mosquitoes first appeared shortly after the onset of local human transmission and expanded geographically in parallel with the epidemic. Mosquito- and human-derived CHIKV genomes were nearly identical and belonged to a genetically homogeneous East/Central/South African (ECSA) lineage, supporting sustained local mosquito-human transmission. Despite widespread CHIKV circulation, the resident mosquito virome remained broadly stable, with sampling time contributing more to virome variation than CHIKV infection status. Only two resident viruses, Orthophasmavirus barstukorius and Guato virus, were significantly associated with CHIKV infection. Integration of pooled and individual sequencing further showed that pooled samples reliably represented the population-level core virome, whereas individual mosquitoes revealed substantial inter-individual heterogeneity. Five previously undescribed RNA viruses were also identified, expanding the known virosphere of Ae. albopictus. Together, our findings show that natural CHIKV emergence is accompanied by limited species-specific shifts rather than wholesale restructuring of the resident mosquito virome, and highlight the value of integrating genomic and metagenomic surveillance into vector-borne disease monitoring.
SN - 2666-5174
ER -