Endogenous Bornavirus-like Elements in Bats: Evolutionary Insights from the Conserved Riboviral L-Gene in Microbats and Its Antisense Transcription in <i>Myotis daubentonii</i>.

ABSTRACT: Bats are ecologically diverse vertebrates characterized by their ability to host a wide range of viruses without apparent illness and the presence of numerous endogenous viral elements (EVEs). EVEs are well preserved, expressed, and may affect host biology and immunity, but their role in bat immune system evolution remains unclear. Among EVEs, endogenous bornavirus-like elements (EBLs) are bornavirus sequences integrated into animal genomes. Here, we identified a novel EBL in the microbat Myotis daubentonii, EBLL-Cultervirus.10-MyoDau (short name is CV.10-MyoDau) that shows protein-level conservation with the L-protein of a Cultervirus (Wuhan sharpbelly bornavirus). Surprisingly, we discovered a transcript on the antisense strand comprising three exons, which we named AMCR-My

SUBMITTER: Ritsch M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11360350 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature