Biology Direct | Abstract | A novel virus genome discovered in an extreme environment suggests recombination between unrelated groups of RNA and DNA viruses

“Viruses are known to be the most abundant organisms on earth, yet little is known about their collective origin and evolutionary history. With exceptionally high rates of genetic mutation and mosaicism, it is not currently possible to resolve deep evolutionary histories of the known major virus groups. Metagenomics offers a potential means of establishing a more comprehensive view of viral evolution as vast amounts of new sequence data becomes available for comparative analysis.

Bioinformatic analysis of viral metagenomic sequences derived from a hot, acidic lake revealed a circular, putatively single-stranded DNA virus encoding a major capsid protein similar to those found only in single-stranded RNA viruses. The presence and circular configuration of the complete virus genome was confirmed by inverse PCR amplification from native DNA extracted from lake sediment. The virus genome appears to be the result of a RNA-DNA recombination event between two ostensibly unrelated virus groups.”

Not the first time this is postulated to have happened, although the authors have cited the first one: Gibbs and Weiller, 1999.

See on www.biology-direct.com

Tags: deep evolutiuon, DNA virus, recombination, RNA virus

This entry was posted on 20 April, 2012 at 14:23 and is filed under Evolution, General Virology, Viruses. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Biology Direct | Abstract | A novel virus genome discovered in an extreme environment suggests recombination between unrelated groups of RNA and DNA viruses”

Linda Pifer, Ph.D. Says:
20 April, 2012 at 19:26 | Reply
Very, very interesting…I guess we could have guessed this could happen, but no one knew for sure.
Kenneth Stedman Says:
28 April, 2012 at 18:07 | Reply
Thanks for the post. We cite Gibbs and Weiller in our publication.
- Ed Rybicki Says:
  30 April, 2012 at 18:13 | Reply
  Apologies! Updated in the wrong place – should have done it on Scoop.it as well as here. I will fix that….

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