Metatranscriptomic Analysis Reveals the Virome Diversity of Biting Midges in Important Natural Scenic Areas of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, China

Metatranscriptomic Analysis Reveals the Virome Diversity of Biting Midges in Important Natural Scenic Areas of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, China | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Metatranscriptomic Analysis Reveals the Virome Diversity of Biting Midges in Important Natural Scenic Areas of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, China Rui Yang, Chao-Ying Zhao, Zi-Yan Wang, Zhi-Ruo Zhu, Rong-Rong Shi, and 3 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8932230/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 10 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background: Biting midges are important medical and veterinary vectorinsects that can transmit a range of zoonotic viruses. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region, as the core area in northern China, is rich in tourism resources, but the characteristics of the virome of biting midges in this region remain unclear. Results: A total of 12152 biting midgesindividuals were collected, and 7 species of Culicoides were identified. Culicoides punctatus (67.02%) and Culicoides morisitai (19.01%) were the dominant species. Metatranscriptomic sequencing yielded 9.79 billion reads, which were assembled into 19472821 contigs, with 45369 annotated viral sequences. Virome analysis showed that RNA viruses predominated, and positive-sense single-stranded RNA ((+)ssRNA)viruses accounted for the highest proportion. Geographic and host species factors significantly affected the viral composition (PERMANOVA, P<0.05). Phylogenetic analysis identified 22 virus species with 208 sequences, including 4 known viruses and 18 potential novel viruses, among which arbovirusessuch as Gouleako virus are worthy of attention. Conclusion: This study is the first to systematically reveal the diversity characteristics of the Culicoides virome in the BTH region and discover a variety of potential novel viruses, which provides an important scientific basis for the monitoring and prevention of regional arboviruses. The results emphasize the ecological importance of Culicoides as virus hosts, suggesting the need to strengthen ongoing monitoring of vector-borne viruses in this region. Culicoides virome metatranscriptomics Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) viral diversity arbovirus Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 11 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 31 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 27 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 13 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 10 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 10 Mar, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 26 Feb, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 23 Feb, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 23 Feb, 2026 First submitted to journal 21 Feb, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8932230","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":599267487,"identity":"b62e5b38-c431-4ac6-8762-a37d55d9db09","order_by":0,"name":"Rui Yang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"China Chinese PLA Center for Disease Control and Prevention","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Rui","middleName":"","lastName":"Yang","suffix":""},{"id":599267488,"identity":"719f172b-eb3c-4de4-b342-be6d8374c6fe","order_by":1,"name":"Chao-Ying Zhao","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"China Chinese PLA Center for Disease 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The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region, as the core area in northern China, is rich in tourism resources, but the characteristics of the virome of biting midges in this region remain unclear.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eResults:\u003c/strong\u003e A total of 12152 biting midgesindividuals were collected, and 7 species of Culicoides were identified. \u003cem\u003eCulicoides punctatus\u003c/em\u003e (67.02%) and \u003cem\u003eCulicoides morisitai\u003c/em\u003e (19.01%) were the dominant species. Metatranscriptomic sequencing yielded 9.79 billion reads, which were assembled into 19472821 contigs, with 45369 annotated viral sequences. Virome analysis showed that RNA viruses predominated, and positive-sense single-stranded RNA ((+)ssRNA)viruses accounted for the highest proportion. Geographic and host species factors significantly affected the viral composition (PERMANOVA, P\u0026lt;0.05). Phylogenetic analysis identified 22 virus species with 208 sequences, including 4 known viruses and 18 potential novel viruses, among which arbovirusessuch as Gouleako virus are worthy of attention.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConclusion: \u003c/strong\u003eThis study is the first to systematically reveal the diversity characteristics of the Culicoides virome in the BTH region and discover a variety of potential novel viruses, which provides an important scientific basis for the monitoring and prevention of regional arboviruses. The results emphasize the ecological importance of Culicoides as virus hosts, suggesting the need to strengthen ongoing monitoring of vector-borne viruses in this region.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Metatranscriptomic Analysis Reveals the Virome Diversity of Biting Midges in Important Natural Scenic Areas of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, China","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-03-04 09:34:59","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8932230/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2026-04-11T18:46:59+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-03-31T15:44:17+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-03-27T16:24:47+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"134726615253412681600066606163013131224","date":"2026-03-13T09:28:16+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"305559825528890904702984689182168013322","date":"2026-03-10T15:45:10+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"269956131853604649139121897241694683029","date":"2026-03-10T15:27:35+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2026-02-26T20:43:53+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2026-02-23T08:14:41+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2026-02-23T08:10:53+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Microbial Ecology","date":"2026-02-21T09:10:41+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"microbial-ecology","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"meco","sideBox":"Learn more about [Microbial Ecology](https://www.springer.com/journal/248)","snPcode":"248","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/248/3","title":"Microbial Ecology","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"71645a6d-0306-45de-8356-f521172f7144","owner":[],"postedDate":"March 4th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-05-08T15:35:17+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-03-04 09:34:59","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8932230","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8932230","identity":"rs-8932230","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}