Non-simian foamy viruses: molecular virology, tropism and prevalence and zoonotic/interspecies transmission.

ABSTRACT: Within the field of retrovirus, our knowledge of foamy viruses (FV) is still limited. Their unique replication strategy and mechanism of viral persistency needs further research to gain understanding of the virus-host interactions, especially in the light of the recent findings suggesting their ancient origin and long co-evolution with their nonhuman hosts. Unquestionably, the most studied member is the primate/prototype foamy virus (PFV) which was originally isolated from a human (designated as human foamy virus, HFV), but later identified as chimpanzee origin; phylogenetic analysis clearly places it among other Old World primates. Additionally, the study of non-simian animal FVs can contribute to a deeper understanding of FV-host interactions and development of other animal models. The r

SUBMITTER: Kehl T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3798896 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature