Disentangling the origins of virophages and polintons
Virophages and polintons are part of a complex system that also involves eukaryotes, giant viruses, as well as other viruses and transposable elements. Virophages are cosmopolitan, being found in environments ranging from the Amazon River to Antarctic hypersaline lakes, while polintons are found in...
Published in: | Current Opinion in Virology |
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Elsevier
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coviro.2017.07.011 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:96a79f71-0ffa-4a3e-993e-dea5e9ab77ff |
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ftuloxford:oai:ora.ox.ac.uk:uuid:96a79f71-0ffa-4a3e-993e-dea5e9ab77ff 2023-05-15T14:04:09+02:00 Disentangling the origins of virophages and polintons Campbell, S Aswad, A Katzourakis, A 2017-11-17 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coviro.2017.07.011 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:96a79f71-0ffa-4a3e-993e-dea5e9ab77ff eng eng Elsevier doi:10.1016/j.coviro.2017.07.011 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:96a79f71-0ffa-4a3e-993e-dea5e9ab77ff https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coviro.2017.07.011 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess CC Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) CC-BY-NC-ND Journal article 2017 ftuloxford https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coviro.2017.07.011 2022-06-28T20:18:52Z Virophages and polintons are part of a complex system that also involves eukaryotes, giant viruses, as well as other viruses and transposable elements. Virophages are cosmopolitan, being found in environments ranging from the Amazon River to Antarctic hypersaline lakes, while polintons are found in many single celled and multicellular eukaryotes. Virophages and polintons have a shared ancestry, but their exact origins are unknown and obscured by antiquity and extensive horizontal gene transfer (HGT). Paleovirology can help disentangle the complicated gene flow between these two, as well as their giant viral and eukaryotic hosts. We outline the evidence and theoretical support for polintons being descended from viruses and not vice versa. In order to disentangle the natural history of polintons and virophages, we suggest that there is much to be gained by embracing rigorous metagenomics and evolutionary analyses. Methods from paleovirology will play a pivotal role in unravelling ancient relationships, HGT and patterns of cross-species transmission. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic ORA - Oxford University Research Archive Antarctic Current Opinion in Virology 25 59 65 |
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Open Polar |
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ORA - Oxford University Research Archive |
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ftuloxford |
language |
English |
description |
Virophages and polintons are part of a complex system that also involves eukaryotes, giant viruses, as well as other viruses and transposable elements. Virophages are cosmopolitan, being found in environments ranging from the Amazon River to Antarctic hypersaline lakes, while polintons are found in many single celled and multicellular eukaryotes. Virophages and polintons have a shared ancestry, but their exact origins are unknown and obscured by antiquity and extensive horizontal gene transfer (HGT). Paleovirology can help disentangle the complicated gene flow between these two, as well as their giant viral and eukaryotic hosts. We outline the evidence and theoretical support for polintons being descended from viruses and not vice versa. In order to disentangle the natural history of polintons and virophages, we suggest that there is much to be gained by embracing rigorous metagenomics and evolutionary analyses. Methods from paleovirology will play a pivotal role in unravelling ancient relationships, HGT and patterns of cross-species transmission. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Campbell, S Aswad, A Katzourakis, A |
spellingShingle |
Campbell, S Aswad, A Katzourakis, A Disentangling the origins of virophages and polintons |
author_facet |
Campbell, S Aswad, A Katzourakis, A |
author_sort |
Campbell, S |
title |
Disentangling the origins of virophages and polintons |
title_short |
Disentangling the origins of virophages and polintons |
title_full |
Disentangling the origins of virophages and polintons |
title_fullStr |
Disentangling the origins of virophages and polintons |
title_full_unstemmed |
Disentangling the origins of virophages and polintons |
title_sort |
disentangling the origins of virophages and polintons |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coviro.2017.07.011 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:96a79f71-0ffa-4a3e-993e-dea5e9ab77ff |
geographic |
Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic |
op_relation |
doi:10.1016/j.coviro.2017.07.011 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:96a79f71-0ffa-4a3e-993e-dea5e9ab77ff https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coviro.2017.07.011 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess CC Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-NC-ND |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coviro.2017.07.011 |
container_title |
Current Opinion in Virology |
container_volume |
25 |
container_start_page |
59 |
op_container_end_page |
65 |
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1766275177500377088 |