Depicting the RNA Virome of Hematophagous Arthropods from Belgrade, Serbia
Maja Stanojević, Kun Li, Gorana Stamenković, Bojan Ilić, Milan Paunović, Branislav Pešić, Ivana Đurić Maslovara, Marina Šiljić, Valentina Ćirković, Yǒng-Zhèn Zhāng
Abstract
Hematophagous arthropods are important vectors for zoonotic pathogens. To date, a huge number of viruses have been identified in these arthropods, with a considerable proportion of them being human pathogens. However, the viromes of hematophagous arthropods are still largely unresearched. In this study, a number of arthropods were collected from Belgrade, Serbia including mosquitoes, ticks and bedbugs. The viromes of these arthropods were identified and characterized using Illumina MiSeq sequencing. In total, 21 viruses belonging to 11 families were characterized, with 11 of them representing novel species. These results may contribute to our knowledge of RNA viruses in arthropods and the discovery of novel human pathogens.