MicrobeWorld App

Watch Live Events

Featured Image

Featured Video

mbmb2

Supporters

Discovering novel viruses in insect vectors using metagenomics

Image
I listen to TWiM and perhaps this story (from mine ha!) will be of interests. A nicely written microbiology blog talking about two papers that use metagenomic sequencing on viruses in insect vectors: mosquitoes (animal viruses) and whitefly (plant viruses)

Not only did we find known human and plant pathogens, but also divergent viral sequences leading to discovery of novel viruses. People have studied mosquito viruses for a long time; however, performing metagenomic approach on mosquito suggested that there are still many viruses that we don't know in these insect vectors. Insect vectors act like "flying syringes" and might even help our quest for understanding viral diversity!
 
 

Comments (0)

Collections (0)

 

American Society for Microbiology
2012 1752 N Street, N.W. • Washington, DC 20036-2904 • (202) 737-3600

Copyright © American Center for Microbiology 2012. All Rights Reserved.