AG129 Mice as a Comprehensive Model for the Experimental Assessment of Mosquito Vector Competence for Arboviruses

Baldon, Lívia V. R.; de Mendonça, Silvana F.; Ferreira, Flávia V.; Rezende, Fernanda O.; Amadou, Siad C. G.; Leite, Thiago H. J. F.; Rocha, Marcele N.; Marques, João T.; Moreira, Luciano A.; Ferreira, Alvaro G. A.

doi:10.3390/pathogens11080879

Open AccessArticle

AG129 Mice as a Comprehensive Model for the Experimental Assessment of Mosquito Vector Competence for Arboviruses

by

Lívia V. R. Baldon

^1,†,

Silvana F. de Mendonça

^1,†,

Flávia V. Ferreira

¹,

Fernanda O. Rezende

¹,

Siad C. G. Amadou

²,

Thiago H. J. F. Leite

²

,

Marcele N. Rocha

^1,‡,

João T. Marques

^2,3

,

Luciano A. Moreira

¹ and

Alvaro G. A. Ferreira

^1,*

¹

Mosquitos Vetores: Endossimbiontes e Interação Patógeno-Vetor, Instituto René Rachou-Fiocruz, Belo Horizonte 30190-002, Brazil

²

Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, 6627-Pampulha, Belo Horizonte 31270-901, Brazil

³

Faculté des Sciences de la Vie, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS UPR9022, Inserm U1257, 67084 Strasbourg, France

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

^†

These authors contributed equally to this work.

^‡

Current address: Laboratory of Synthetic Biology and Biomimetics, Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte 31270-901, Brazil.

Pathogens 2022, 11(8), 879; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens11080879

Submission received: 14 June 2022 / Revised: 18 July 2022 / Accepted: 26 July 2022 / Published: 3 August 2022

(This article belongs to the Section Viral Pathogens)

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Abstract

Arboviruses (an acronym for “arthropod-borne virus”), such as dengue, yellow fever, Zika, and Chikungunya, are important human pathogens transmitted by mosquitoes. These viruses impose a growing burden on public health. Despite laboratory mice having been used for decades for understanding the basic biological phenomena of these viruses, it was only recently that researchers started to develop immunocompromised animals to study the pathogenesis of arboviruses and their transmission in a way that parallels natural cycles. Here, we show that the AG129 mouse (IFN α/β/γ R^−/−) is a suitable and comprehensive vertebrate model for studying the mosquito vector competence for the major arboviruses of medical importance, namely the dengue virus (DENV), yellow fever virus (YFV), Zika virus (ZIKV), Mayaro virus (MAYV), and Chikungunya virus (CHIKV). We found that, after intraperitoneal injection, AG129 mice developed a transient viremia lasting several days, peaking on day two or three post infection, for all five arboviruses tested in this study. Furthermore, we found that the observed viremia was ample enough to infect Aedes aegypti during a blood meal from the AG129 infected mice. Finally, we demonstrated that infected mosquitoes could transmit each of the tested arboviruses back to naïve AG129 mice, completing a full transmission cycle of these vector-borne viruses. Together, our data show that A129 mice are a simple and comprehensive vertebrate model for studies of vector competence, as well as investigations into other aspects of mosquito biology that can affect virus–host interactions.

Keywords: arbovirus; mice model; AG129; vector competence; virus transmission; vertebrate transmission model

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MDPI and ACS Style

Baldon, L.V.R.; de Mendonça, S.F.; Ferreira, F.V.; Rezende, F.O.; Amadou, S.C.G.; Leite, T.H.J.F.; Rocha, M.N.; Marques, J.T.; Moreira, L.A.; Ferreira, A.G.A. AG129 Mice as a Comprehensive Model for the Experimental Assessment of Mosquito Vector Competence for Arboviruses. Pathogens 2022, 11, 879. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens11080879

AMA Style

Baldon LVR, de Mendonça SF, Ferreira FV, Rezende FO, Amadou SCG, Leite THJF, Rocha MN, Marques JT, Moreira LA, Ferreira AGA. AG129 Mice as a Comprehensive Model for the Experimental Assessment of Mosquito Vector Competence for Arboviruses. Pathogens. 2022; 11(8):879. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens11080879

Chicago/Turabian Style

Baldon, Lívia V. R., Silvana F. de Mendonça, Flávia V. Ferreira, Fernanda O. Rezende, Siad C. G. Amadou, Thiago H. J. F. Leite, Marcele N. Rocha, João T. Marques, Luciano A. Moreira, and Alvaro G. A. Ferreira. 2022. "AG129 Mice as a Comprehensive Model for the Experimental Assessment of Mosquito Vector Competence for Arboviruses" Pathogens 11, no. 8: 879. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens11080879

APA Style

Baldon, L. V. R., de Mendonça, S. F., Ferreira, F. V., Rezende, F. O., Amadou, S. C. G., Leite, T. H. J. F., Rocha, M. N., Marques, J. T., Moreira, L. A., & Ferreira, A. G. A. (2022). AG129 Mice as a Comprehensive Model for the Experimental Assessment of Mosquito Vector Competence for Arboviruses. Pathogens, 11(8), 879. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens11080879

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AG129 Mice as a Comprehensive Model for the Experimental Assessment of Mosquito Vector Competence for Arboviruses

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