Newly Discovered Mosquito Viruses Help Control Vector-Borne Viral Diseases

Many well-known mosquito-borne viruses such as dengue, Zika, West Nile, chikungunya and Ross River viruses can be transmitted to vertebratesandare associated withdisease in man or animals. However, the use of deep sequencing and other open-minded approaches to detect viruses in mosquitoes have uncovered many new RNA viruses, most of which do not infect vertebrates. The discovery of these 'insect-specific' viruses (ISVs) has redefined the mosquito virome and prompted the lines of viral taxonomic classification to be redrawn(1,2). Despite their benign phenotype, ISVs have become a hot topic of research, with recent studies indicating they have significant application for biotechnology.