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Blood-feeding, susceptibility to infection with Schmallenberg virus and phylogenetics of Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) from the United Kingdom

Overview of attention for article published in Parasites & Vectors, February 2018
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  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (73rd percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (80th percentile)

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Title
Blood-feeding, susceptibility to infection with Schmallenberg virus and phylogenetics of Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) from the United Kingdom
Published in
Parasites & Vectors, February 2018
DOI 10.1186/s13071-018-2650-x
Pubmed ID
Authors

James Barber, Lara E. Harrup, Rhiannon Silk, Eva Veronesi, Simon Gubbins, Katarzyna Bachanek-Bankowska, Simon Carpenter

Abstract

Culicoides biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) are responsible for the biological transmission of internationally important arboviruses of livestock. In 2011, a novel Orthobunyavirus was discovered in northern Europe causing congenital malformations and abortions in ruminants. From field studies, Culicoides were implicated in the transmission of this virus which was subsequently named Schmallenberg virus (SBV), but to date no assessment of susceptibility to infection of field populations under standardised laboratory conditions has been carried out. We assessed the influence of membrane type (chick skin, collagen, Parafilm M®) when offered in conjunction with an artificial blood-feeding system (Hemotek, UK) on field-collected Culicoides blood-feeding rates. Susceptibility to infection with SBV following blood-feeding on an SBV-blood suspension provided via either (i) the Hemotek system or via (ii) a saturated cotton wool pledglet was then compared. Schmallenberg virus susceptibility was defined by RT-qPCR of RNA extractions of head homogenates and related to Culicoides species and haplotype identifications based on the DNA barcode region of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase 1 (cox1) gene. Culicoides blood-feeding rates were low across all membrane types tested (7.5% chick skin, 0.0% for collagen, 4.4% Parafilm M®, with 6029 female Culicoides being offered a blood meal in total). Susceptibility to infection with SBV through membrane blood-feeding (8 of 109 individuals tested) and pledglet blood-feeding (1 of 94 individuals tested) was demonstrated for the Obsoletus complex, with both C. obsoletus (Meigen) and C. scoticus Downes & Kettle susceptible to infection with SBV through oral feeding. Potential evidence of cryptic species within UK populations was found for the Obsoletus complex in phylogenetic analyses of cox1 DNA barcodes of 74 individuals assessed from a single field-site. Methods described in this study provide the means to blood-feed Palaearctic Culicoides for vector competence studies and colonisation attempts. Susceptibility to SBV infection was 7.3% for membrane-fed members of the subgenus Avaritia and 1.1% for pledglet-fed. Both C. obsoletus and C. scoticus were confirmed as being susceptible to infection with SBV, with potential evidence of cryptic species within UK Obsoletus complex specimens, however the implications of cryptic diversity in the Obsoletus complex on arbovirus transmission remains unknown.

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X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 10 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 41 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 41 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Researcher 8 20%
Student > Master 7 17%
Student > Ph. D. Student 7 17%
Student > Doctoral Student 4 10%
Student > Bachelor 3 7%
Other 5 12%
Unknown 7 17%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Veterinary Science and Veterinary Medicine 10 24%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 10 24%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 3 7%
Environmental Science 2 5%
Immunology and Microbiology 2 5%
Other 4 10%
Unknown 10 24%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 7. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 21 March 2019.
All research outputs
#4,638,696
of 23,574,345 outputs
Outputs from Parasites & Vectors
#983
of 5,580 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#88,535
of 330,912 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Parasites & Vectors
#36
of 184 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,574,345 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 80th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 5,580 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.8. This one has done well, scoring higher than 82% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 330,912 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 73% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 184 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 80% of its contemporaries.