Dataset Information

Pithoviruses Are Invaded by Repeats That Contribute to Their Evolution and Divergence from Cedratviruses.

ABSTRACT: Pithoviridae are amoeba-infecting giant viruses possessing the largest viral particles known so far. Since the discovery of Pithovirus sibericum, recovered from a 30,000-yr-old permafrost sample, other pithoviruses, and related cedratviruses, were isolated from various terrestrial and aquatic samples. Here, we report the isolation and genome sequencing of 2 Pithoviridae from soil samples, in addition to 3 other recent isolates. Using the 12 available genome sequences, we conducted a thorough comparative genomic study of the Pithoviridae family to decipher the organization and evolution of their genomes. Our study reveals a nonuniform genome organization in 2 main regions: 1 concentrating core genes and another gene duplications. We also found that Pithoviridae genomes are more conservative than other families of giant viruses, with a low and stable proportion (5% to 7%) of genes originating from horizontal transfers. Genome size variation within the family is mainly due to variations in gene duplication rates (from 14% to 28%) and massive invasion by inverted repeats. While these repeated elements are absent from cedratviruses, repeat-rich regions cover as much as a quarter of the pithoviruses genomes. These regions, identified using a dedicated pipeline, are hotspots of mutations, gene capture events, and genomic rearrangements that contribute to their evolution.

SUBMITTER: Rigou S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10664404 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Pithoviruses Are Invaded by Repeats That Contribute to Their Evolution and Divergence from Cedratviruses.

Rigou Sofia S Schmitt Alain A Alempic Jean-Marie JM Lartigue Audrey A Vendloczki Peter P Abergel Chantal C Claverie Jean-Michel JM Legendre Matthieu M

Molecular biology and evolution 20231101 11

Pithoviridae are amoeba-infecting giant viruses possessing the largest viral particles known so far. Since the discovery of Pithovirus sibericum, recovered from a 30,000-yr-old permafrost sample, other pithoviruses, and related cedratviruses, were isolated from various terrestrial and aquatic samples. Here, we report the isolation and genome sequencing of 2 Pithoviridae from soil samples, in addition to 3 other recent isolates. Using the 12 available genome sequences, we conducted a thorough com ...[more]

PMID: 37950899

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Project description:BackgroundThe processes leading to the diversity of over 7000 present-day languages have been the subject of scholarly interest for centuries. Several factors have been suggested to contribute to the spatial segregation of speaker populations and the subsequent linguistic divergence. However, their formal testing and the quantification of their relative roles is still missing. We focussed here on the early stages of the linguistic divergence process, that is, the divergence of dialects, with a special focus on the ecological settings of the speaker populations. We adopted conceptual and statistical approaches from biological microevolution and parallelled intra-lingual variation with genetic variation within a species. We modelled the roles of geographical distance, differences in environmental and cultural conditions and in administrative history on linguistic divergence at two different levels: between municipal dialects (cf. in biology, between individuals) and between dialect groups (cf. in biology, between populations).ResultsWe found that geographical distance and administrative history were important in separating municipal dialects. However, environmental and cultural differences contributed markedly to the divergence of dialect groups. In biology, increase in genetic differences between populations together with environmental differences may suggest genetic differentiation of populations through adaptation to the local environment. However, our interpretation of this result is not that language itself adapts to the environment. Instead, it is based on Homo sapiens being affected by its environment, and its capability to adapt culturally to various environmental conditions. The differences in cultural adaptations arising from environmental heterogeneity could have acted as nonphysical barriers and limited the contacts and communication between groups. As a result, linguistic differentiation may emerge over time in those speaker populations which are, at least partially, separated.ConclusionsGiven that the dialects of isolated speaker populations may eventually evolve into different languages, our result suggests that cultural adaptation to local environment and the associated isolation of speaker populations have contributed to the emergence of the global patterns of linguistic diversity.

Dataset Information

Pithoviruses Are Invaded by Repeats That Contribute to Their Evolution and Divergence from Cedratviruses.

Publications

Pithoviruses Are Invaded by Repeats That Contribute to Their Evolution and Divergence from Cedratviruses.

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