Origin and evolution of eukaryotic large nucleo-cytoplasmic DNA viruses.

Intervirology

National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20894, USA.

Published: September 2010

AI Article Synopsis

  • The nucleo-cytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDV) form a cohesive group with six virus families infecting various eukaryotes, and their evolutionary origins highlight about 50 conserved genes from a common ancestor.
  • Phylogenetic studies suggest that NCLDV emerged in the early evolution of eukaryotes, with core genes originating from a mix of bacteriophages, bacteria, and eukaryotic sources.
  • The NCLDV ancestor likely evolved from a bacteriophage, acquiring essential genes for replication and virion formation while losing most of its original phage genes.

Article Abstract

Background/aims: The nucleo-cytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDV) constitute an apparently monophyletic group that consists of 6 families of viruses infecting a broad variety of eukaryotes. A comprehensive genome comparison and maximum-likelihood reconstruction of NCLDV evolution reveal a set of approximately 50 conserved genes that can be tentatively mapped to the genome of the common ancestor of this class of eukaryotic viruses. We address the origins and evolution of NCLDV.

Results: Phylogenetic analysis indicates that some of the major clades of NCLDV infect diverse animals and protists, suggestive of early radiation of the NCLDV, possibly concomitant with eukaryogenesis. The core NCLDV genes seem to have originated from different sources including homologous genes of bacteriophages, bacteria and eukaryotes. These observations are compatible with a scenario of the origin of the NCLDV at an early stage of the evolution of eukaryotes through extensive mixing of genes from widely different genomes.

Conclusions: The common ancestor of the NCLDV probably evolved from a bacteriophage as a result of recruitment of numerous eukaryotic and some bacterial genes, and concomitant loss of the majority of phage genes except for a small core of genes coding for proteins essential for virus genome replication and virion formation.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2895762PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000312913DOI Listing

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