Abstract
Endogenous retroviruses provide important insights into the deep history of this viral lineage. Endogenous foamy viruses are thought to be very rare and only a few cases have been identified to date. Here we report a novel endogenous foamy virus (CaEFV) within the genome of the Cape golden mole (Chrysochloris asiatica). The identification of CaEFV reveals the presence of foamy virus in the placental mammal superorder Afrotheria. Phylogenetic analyses place CaEFV basal to other foamy viruses of Eutherian origin, suggesting an ancient codivergence between foamy virus and placental mammals. These findings have implications for understanding the long-term evolution, diversity, and biology of retroviruses.
Highlights
Foamy viruses are complex retroviruses, which are typically nonpathogenic and infect a variety of placental mammals, including primates, cats, cows, bats, and horses [1,2]
Retroviruses can integrate into host genomes as endogenous retroviruses (ERVs), which provide ‘molecular fossils’ for studying their deep history and their relationships with their hosts [3]
We report the discovery of an endogenous foamy virus within the genome of a small, insectivorous mammal native to southwestern South Africa, the Cape golden mole (Chrysochloris asiatica), which we designate ‘Chrysochloris asiatica endogenous foamy virus’ (CaEFV)
Summary
Foamy viruses are complex retroviruses, which are typically nonpathogenic and infect a variety of placental mammals, including primates, cats, cows, bats, and horses [1,2]. While ERVs are common in vertebrate genomes [4], endogenous foamy virus-like elements are thought to be very rare [5,6,7]. We report the discovery of an endogenous foamy virus within the genome of a small, insectivorous mammal native to southwestern South Africa, the Cape golden mole (Chrysochloris asiatica), which we designate ‘Chrysochloris asiatica endogenous foamy virus’ (CaEFV). This finding provides strong evidence that foamy viruses were already present in the most recent common ancestor of all placental mammals ,100 million years ago
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