A replication-competent deltavirus from the marsupial fat-tailed dunnart <i>Sminthopsis crassicaudata</i>.

ABSTRACT: Deltaviruses are circular, negative-sense RNA agents that replicate autonomously but depend on heterologous envelope glycoproteins for spread. Only partial sequences of deltaviruses had been reported from marsupials. By reanalysing public metatranscriptomes from the Australian fat-tailed dunnart (Sminthopsis crassicaudata), we assemble the first complete marsupial deltavirus genome and test its replication in human and animal cells. The fat-tailed dunnart deltavirus (FtDDeV) is a 1,680-nt circular RNA that folds into a canonical unbranched rod-like structure and encodes a 195-aa delta antigen (FtDDAg). Genomic and antigenomic HDV-like ribozymes are present and conserve catalytic core motifs. Phylogenetic analyses cluster FtDDAg with the Tasmanian devil sequence, and both are quite c

SUBMITTER: Denis Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12811629 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature