Domesticating Zika virus Why hasn't Zika virus (ZIKV) disease caused as much devastation in Africa, its continent of origin, as it has in the Americas? Outside of Africa, this flavivirus is transmitted by a ubiquitous mosquito subspecies, Aedes aegypti aegypti, which emerged from the African forerunner subspecies A. aegypti formosus and acquired a preference for human blood and a peridomestic lifestyle. Now, this subspecies colonizes many intertropical cities, aided by climate change and human trash. Aubry et al. tested 14 laboratory mosquito colonies for their relative susceptibility to ZIKV. Quantitative trait locus mapping showed differences on chromosome 2 between mosquitoes from Gabon and Guadeloupe. Mouse infection experiments revealed that African mosquitoes transmitted a smaller virus inoculum than the South American insects. Increased susceptibility coupled with the ability of A. aegypti aegypti to breed in any discarded object containing water has amplified the problematic nature of this virus as it has circumnavigated the world. Science, this issue p. 991 “Domestication” of mosquitoes was accompanied by an increase in their innate ability to acquire and transmit Zika virus. The drivers and patterns of zoonotic virus emergence in the human population are poorly understood. The mosquito Aedes aegypti is a major arbovirus vector native to Africa that invaded most of the world’s tropical belt over the past four centuries, after the evolution of a “domestic” form that specialized in biting humans and breeding in water storage containers. Here, we show that human specialization and subsequent spread of A. aegypti out of Africa were accompanied by an increase in its intrinsic ability to acquire and transmit the emerging human pathogen Zika virus. Thus, the recent evolution and global expansion of A. aegypti promoted arbovirus emergence not solely through increased vector–host contact but also as a result of enhanced vector susceptibility.

中文翻译：

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全球入侵埃及伊蚊种群对寨卡病毒的易感性增强

驯化寨卡病毒 为什么寨卡病毒 (ZIKV) 疾病在非洲这个起源大陆造成的破坏不如在美洲那么严重？在非洲以外，这种黄病毒由无处不在的蚊子亚种埃及伊蚊传播，该亚种起源于非洲先行者亚种 A. aegypti formosus，并偏好人类血液和家庭生活方式。现在，在气候变化和人类垃圾的帮助下，这个亚种在许多热带城市定居。奥布里等人。测试了 14 个实验室蚊子菌落对 ZIKV 的相对易感性。定量性状基因座定位显示来自加蓬和瓜德罗普岛的蚊子在 2 号染色体上存在差异。小鼠感染实验表明，与南美昆虫相比，非洲蚊子传播的病毒接种量较小。易感性增加，加上埃及伊蚊在任何含有水的丢弃物体中繁殖的能力，放大了这种病毒在世界各地航行时的问题性质。科学，这个问题 p。991 蚊子的“驯化”伴随着它们获得和传播寨卡病毒的先天能力的增强。人们对人畜共患病病毒出现的驱动因素和模式知之甚少。埃及伊蚊是一种主要的虫媒病毒，原产于非洲，在进化出一种专门咬人并在储水容器中繁殖的“家养”形式之后，在过去四个世纪中入侵了世界大部分热带地区。在这里，我们展示了 A. 埃及人离开非洲的同时，其获取和传播新出现的人类病原体寨卡病毒的内在能力也有所增强。因此，埃及伊蚊最近的进化和全球扩张促进了虫媒病毒的出现，这不仅是通过增加媒介与宿主的接触，而且是提高媒介易感性的结果。