Abstract
BackgroundThe scope of our understanding of the evolutionary history between viruses and animals is limited. The fact that the recent availability of many complete insect virus genomes and vertebrate genomes as well as the ability to screen these sequences makes it possible to gain a new perspective insight into the evolutionary interaction between insect viruses and vertebrates. This study is to determine the possibility of existence of sequence identity between the genomes of insect viruses and vertebrates, attempt to explain this phenomenon in term of genetic mobile element, and try to investigate the evolutionary relationship between these short regions of identity among these species.ResultsSome of studied insect viruses contain variable numbers of short regions of sequence identity to the genomes of vertebrate with nucleotide sequence length from 28 bp to 124 bp. They are found to locate in multiple sites of the vertebrate genomes. The ontology of animal genes with identical regions involves in several processes including chromatin remodeling, regulation of apoptosis, signaling pathway, nerve system development and some enzyme-like catalysis. Phylogenetic analysis reveals that at least some short regions of sequence identity in the genomes of vertebrate are derived the ancestral of insect viruses.ConclusionShort regions of sequence identity were found in the vertebrates and insect viruses. These sequences played an important role not only in the long-term evolution of vertebrates, but also in promotion of insect virus. This typical win-win strategy may come from natural selection.
Highlights
The scope of our understanding of the evolutionary history between viruses and animals is limited
Dozens of short regions of sequence identity were found between animals and viruses including double stranded DNA viruses and double stranded RNA viruses (Table 1)
Note that in our study more short regions of sequence identity to a DNA-virus were found than that to a RNA-virus which was reported in precious study [8]
Summary
The scope of our understanding of the evolutionary history between viruses and animals is limited. Viruses have a highly host-associated life circle. As a result, they infect and occasionally integrate into the germ line cells chromosome and are inherited vertically as host alleles [1,2]. A growing number of nucleotide sequences of viruses have been and continue to be found in their respective host spices. These remnants of ancient viral infections play an important role in offering unforeseen sources of genomic novelty in their hosts [1,3] and molecular fossils to facilitate our most of these discoveries were merely addressed in an aspect of virus-host interaction and may narrow our prospective to probe the links between viruses and animals
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