A transitional endogenous lentivirus from the genome of a basal primate and implications for lentivirus evolution.

ABSTRACT: Lentiviruses chronically infect a broad range of mammalian species and have been transmitted from primates to humans, giving rise to multiple outbreaks of HIV infection over the past century. Although the circumstances surrounding these recent zoonoses are becoming clearer, the nature and timescale of interaction between lentiviruses and primates remains unknown. Here, we report the discovery of an endogenous lentivirus in the genome of the gray mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus), a strepsirrhine primate from Madagascar, demonstrating that lentiviruses are capable of invading the primate germ line. Phylogenetic analysis places gray mouse lemur prosimian immunodeficiency virus (pSIVgml) basal to all known primate lentiviruses and, consistent with this, its genomic organization is intermediate

SUBMITTER: Gifford RJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2603253 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature