Fig. 5
From: Aedes mosquitoes acquire and transmit Zika virus by breeding in contaminated aquatic environments
Urination by infected animals leads to the infection of mosquitoes during breeding. a Schematic representation of mosquito infection by breeding in diluted infected mouse urine. We infected the AG6 mice by Zika virus (ZIKV) intrapleural injection (100 pfu per mouse) and subsequently subjected the infected mice to daily NaHCO3 treatment. The infected AG6 mice without NaHCO3 treatment served as untreated controls. The urine was collected and subsequently diluted 5-fold for the A. aegypti (Rockefeller strain) pupal eclosion. The emerging mosquitoes were reared for an additional 8 days for quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR) detection. b ZIKV viremia in the infected AG6 mice. The viral load was detected by a plaque assay over a time course after infection. c Regulation of the pH value in the urine of NaHCO3-treated infected AG6 mice. d Assessing the ZIKV infectious particles in the urine of infected AG6 mice. The urine samples collected daily were measured by a plaque assay. b–d n represents 12 independent mice in each group. The data were pooled from three independent experiments. Data are presented as the mean ± SEM. e Mosquitoes acquired ZIKV infection by breeding in diluted urine from NaHCO3-treated infected AG6 mice. The urine samples from four individual mice were mixed and then diluted 5-fold for A. aegypti pupal eclosion. The emerging adults were reared for 8 days for ZIKV detection by RT-qPCR. The number of infected mosquitoes relative to the total number of mosquitoes is shown at the top of each column. One dot represents one mosquito. The percentages are represented as the ratios of mosquito infection. The data were pooled from three independent biological replicates. f Schematic representation of the host urination-mosquito breeding ZIKV transmission route. A Zika patient may release urine daily, resulting in various levels of infectious ZIKV being excreted by patient urination in natural circumstances. The mosquitos breeding from the water systems contaminated by ZIKV may acquire the infection. Therefore, viruria of infected hosts may facilitate ZIKV prevalence and transmission by mosquitoes. b–e Source data are provided as a Source Data file
