Sushi protects mosquitoes from lethal virus infections

As far as I know, mosquitoes do not eat sushi. But mosquito cells have proteins with sushi repeat domains, and these proteins protect the brain from lethal virus infections. Mosquitoes are vectors for the transmission of many human viral diseases, including yellow fever, West Nile disease, Japanese encephalitis, and dengue hemorrhagic fever. Many mosquito-borne viruses enter the human central nervous system and cause neurological disease. In contrast, these viruses replicate in many tissues of the mosquito, including the central nervous system, with little pathological effect and no alteration of behavior or lifespan. The defenses that allow such persistent infection of mosquitoes are slowly being unraveled. A protein called Hikaru genki, or Hig, is crucial for controlling viral infections of the mosquito brain. Originally discovered in the fruit fly Drosophila, Hig is produced mainly in the brain of Aedes aegyptii, the natural vector for dengue and yellow fever viruses. Experimental reduction of Hig mRNA or protein in the mosquito leads to increased replication of dengue virus and Japanese encephalitis virus. This increase in viral replication is accompanied by more cell death in the mosquito brain, and decreased survival. How does Hig protein impair virus replication? The Hig protein of A. aegyptii binds dengue virus particles via the E membrane glycoprotein. As Hig protein is located on the cell surface, binding to virus particles prevents virus entry into cells. Impa...
Source: virology blog - Category: Virology Authors: Tags: Basic virology Information arbovirus complement control protein domain dengue virus encephalitis flavivirus Japanese encephalitis virus mosquito persistence sushi domain viral West Nile virus yellow fever virus Source Type: blogs