SARS Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in late 2019, leading to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that continues to cause significant global mortality in human populations. Given its sequence similarity to SARS-CoV, as well as related coronaviruses circulating in bats, SARS-CoV-2 is thought to have originated in Chiroptera species in China. However, whether the virus spread directly to humans or through an intermediate host is currently unclear, as is the potential for this virus to infect companion animals, livestock, and wildlife that could act as viral reservoirs. Using a combination of surrogate entry assays and live virus, we demonstrate that, in addition to human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), the Spike glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 has a broad host tropism for mammalian ACE2 receptors, despite divergence in the amino acids at the Spike receptor binding site on these proteins. Of the 22 different hosts we investigated, ACE2 proteins from dog, cat, and cattle were the most permissive to SARS-CoV-2, while bat and bird ACE2 proteins were the least efficiently used receptors. The absence of a significant tropism for any of the 3 genetically distinct bat ACE2 proteins we examined indicates that SARS-CoV-2 receptor usage likely shifted during zoonotic transmission from bats into people, possibly in an intermediate reservoir. Comparison of SARS-CoV-2 receptor usage to the related coronaviruses SARS-CoV and RaTG13 identified distinct tropisms, with the 2 human viruses being more closely aligned. Finally, using bioinformatics, structural data, and targeted mutagenesis, we identified amino acid residues within the Spike–ACE2 interface, which may have played a pivotal role in the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in humans. The apparently broad tropism of SARS-CoV-2 at the point of viral entry confirms the potential risk of infection to a wide range of companion animals, livestock, and wildlife.

Significance: It is important to understand antiviral mechanisms in potential new arbovirus vectors, such as Anopheles mosquitoes, in order to assess risks associated with arbovirus spread. Using an arbovirus naturally transmitted by Anopheles , we find that important immune mechanisms involved in the first bottleneck to Anopheles infection, the midgut, have distinct effects on arbovirus or malaria. This result is, to our knowledge, the first concrete evidence of protection tradeoffs for different human pathogens in a human disease vector, and it suggests that design of genetically immune-modified mosquitoes could result in unexpected outcomes. These results also indicate that different mosquito tissues display distinct antiviral protection that probably imposes divergent selection pressures upon viral replication during different stages of the infection.

Arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) pose a considerable threat to human and animal health, yet effective control measures have proven difficult to implement, and novel means of controlling their replication in arthropod vectors, such as mosquitoes, are urgently required. One of the most exciting approaches to emerge from research on arthropods is the use of the endosymbiotic intracellular bacteriumWolbachiato control arbovirus transmission from mosquito to vertebrate. These α-proteobacteria propagate through insects, in part through modulation of host reproduction, thus ensuring spread through species and maintenance in nature. Since it was discovered thatWolbachiaendosymbiosis inhibits insect virus replication inDrosophilaspecies, these bacteria have also been shown to inhibit arbovirus replication and spread in mosquitoes. Importantly, it is not clear how these antiviral effects are mediated. This review will summarize recent work and discuss determinants of antiviral effectiveness that may differ between individualWolbachia/vector/arbovirus interactions. We will also discuss the application of this approach to field settings and the associated risks.

Most vertebrate and plant RNA and small DNA viruses suppress genomic CpG and UpA dinucleotide frequencies, apparently mimicking host mRNA composition. Artificially increasing CpG/UpA dinucleotides attenuates viruses through an entirely unknown mechanism. Using the echovirus 7 (E7) model in several cell types, we show that the restriction in E7 replication in mutants with increased CpG/UpA dinucleotides occurred immediately after viral entry, with incoming virions failing to form replication complexes. Sequences of CpG/UpA-high virus stocks showed no evidence of increased mutational errors that would render them replication defective, these viral RNAs were not differentially sequestered in cytoplasmic stress granules nor did they induce a systemic antiviral state. Importantly, restriction was not mediated through effects on translation efficiency since replicons with high CpG/UpA sequences inserted into a non-coding region were similarly replication defective. Host-cells thus possess intrinsic defence pathways that prevent replication of viruses with increased CpG/UpA frequencies independently of codon usage.

Viruses within the Bunyaviridae family are tri-segmented, negative-stranded RNA viruses. The family includes several emerging and re-emerging viruses of humans, animals and plants, such as Rift Valley fever virus, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus, La Crosse virus, Schmallenberg virus and tomato spotted wilt virus. Many bunyaviruses are arthropod-borne, so-called arboviruses. Depending on the genus, bunyaviruses encode, in addition to the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase and the different structural proteins, one or several non-structural proteins. These non-structural proteins are not always essential for virus growth and replication but can play an important role in viral pathogenesis through their interaction with the host innate immune system. In this review, we will summarize current knowledge and understanding of insect-borne bunyavirus non-structural protein function(s) in vertebrate, plant and arthropod.

Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV; Phlebovirus , Bunyaviridae ) is an emerging zoonotic mosquito-borne pathogen of high relevance for human and animal health. Successful strategies of intervention in RVFV transmission by its mosquito vectors and the prevention of human and veterinary disease rely on a better understanding of the mechanisms that govern RVFV-vector interactions. Despite its medical importance, little is known about the factors that govern RVFV replication, dissemination, and transmission in the invertebrate host. Here we studied the role of the antiviral RNA interference immune pathways in the defense against RVFV in natural vector mosquitoes and mosquito cells and draw comparisons to the model insect Drosophila melanogaster . We found that RVFV infection induces both the exogenous small interfering RNA (siRNA) and piRNA pathways, which contribute to the control of viral replication in insects. Furthermore, we demonstrate the production of virus-derived piRNAs in Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes. Understanding these pathways and the targets within them offers the potential of the development of novel RVFV control measures in vector-based strategies.