| Summary: | <p>Abstract</p> <p>The presence of DNA sequences integrated from a new flavivirus related to Cell Fusing Agent and Kamiti River Virus was identified in wild <it>Aedes albopictus </it>mosquito populations from the provinces of Trentino and Padova, Northern Italy. Field work was developed during August–October 2007 with BG-traps, and mosquitoes were screened for flavivirus and alphavirus. No alphavirus was detected, indicating that Chikungunya virus is not present in these mosquitoes in Trentino and Padova area. However, 21% of the pools were positive for flavivirus, further recognised with BLAST as similar to Kamiti River Virus. Phylogenetical analysis with 708 nucleotides from the NS5 gene identified this virus as a new member of the insect flavivirus clade, together with others like Kamiti River Virus, Cell Fusing Agent or <it>Culex </it>flavivirus, and in the group of those transmitted by <it>Aedes</it>. Furthermore, the treatment with RNAse, indicated that this flavivirus should be integrated in the genome of <it>Ae. albopictus</it>. These results propose that these sequences are transmitted by both sexes, and with different prevalence in the studied populations, and support the idea of a widespread distribution of integrated genomes in several mosquitoes from different areas, as first demonstrated with Cell Silent Agent. Evolutionary implications of this discovery and application in flavivirus phylogeny are discussed.</p>
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