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Virol J. 2008; 5: 33.
Published online 2008 February 27. doi: 10.1186/1743-422X-5-33.
PMCID: PMC2266737
Chikungunya virus adapts to tiger mosquito via evolutionary convergence: a sign of things to come?
Xavier de Lamballerie,corresponding author1 Eric Leroy,2 Rémi N Charrel,1 Konstantin Ttsetsarkin,3 Stephen Higgs,3 and Ernest A Gould1
1Institut de Recherche pour le Développement UMR190/Unité des Virus Emergents, Université de la Méditerranée, Marseille, France
2Institut de Recherche pour le Développement UMR190/CIRMF, Franceville, Gabon
3Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, USA
corresponding authorCorresponding author.
Xavier de Lamballerie: xavier.de-lamballerie/at/univmed.fr; Eric Leroy: eric.leroy/at/ird.fr; Rémi N Charrel: remi.charrel/at/medecine.univ-mrs.fr; Konstantin Ttsetsarkin: kotsetsa/at/utmb.edu; Stephen Higgs: sthiggs/at/utmb.edu; Ernest A Gould: eag/at/ceh.ac.uk
Received January 11, 2008; Accepted February 27, 2008.
Abstract
Since 2004, several million indigenous cases of Chikungunya virus disease occurred in Africa, the Indian Ocean, India, Asia and, recently, Europe. The virus, usually transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, has now repeatedly been associated with a new vector, Ae. Albopictus. Analysis of full-length viral sequences reveals three independent events of virus exposure to Ae. Albopictus, each followed by the acquisition of a single adaptive mutation providing selective advantage for transmission by this mosquito. This disconcerting and current unique example of "evolutionary convergence" occurring in nature illustrates rapid pathogen adaptation to ecological perturbation, driven directly as a consequence of human activities.