Metatranscriptomic Analysis Reveals the Virome and Viral Genomic Evolution of Medically Important Mites
Liping Guo, Xiaoyu Lu, Xue Liu, Ping Li, Junyu Wu, Fan Xing, Hong Peng, Xiaojun Xiao, Mǎng Shī, Zhigang Liu, Xiao-Dong Li, Deyin Guo
Abstract
Mites are important group of arthropods that are associated with a variety of human diseases including scrub typhus and asthma. However, it remains unclear whether or not mites carry viruses that might play a role in human infections or allergic disease. In this study, we used a total transcriptomics approach to characterize and compare the complete RNA virome within mites that are relevant to human health and diseases. Specifically, our data revealed a large diversity, a high abundance, and a flexible genomic evolution for these viruses. Although most of the viruses identified here are unknown to associate with human infectious disease, the abundant presence of viral RNAs may play an immunomodulatory role in the development of allergic reactions such as asthma during environmental exposure to mite allergens, and therefore provide important insights into the mite-induced allergy and preparation of mite allergen vaccines.