Isolation and characterization of a novel invertebrate iridovirus from adult Anopheles minimus (AMIV) in China

• This virus was isolated from wild captured adult Anopheles minimus.
• The AMIV virion has a diameter of about 130 nm.
• Phylogenetic analysis revealed that AMIV is a novel invertebrate iridovirus.
• AMIV encodes high content of replication associated genes including bro-like genes.

An invertebrate iridovirus (designated AMIV) was isolated from adult wild-captured Anopheles minimus mosquitoes in China. AMIV was pathologically and morphologically characterized and sequenced using the Ion Torrent™ sequencing platform. Phylogenetic analysis based on both the major capsid protein and core genes revealed that AMIV differs from all the members of the family Iridoviridae. The AMIV negatively strained virion has a diameter of about 130 nm. AMIV contains a linear DNA molecule of 163,023 bp, with 39% G+C content and 148 coding sequences. The genome analysis revealed that AMIV genome encodes a high content of replication associated genes including BRO-like genes. This is the ninth complete genome of IIV reported.

Phylogenetic trees of AMIV and other tentative IIVs. (A) The major capsid protein based tree using maximum likelihood method. The protein ID of each virus is attached to its clade. The number at each node indicates the bootstrap percentage values for 1000 replications. (B) The Pan-based distance tree using PGAP. The Genbank ID of each virus was attached to its clade.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide