Multiple origins of viral capsid proteins from cellular ancestors.

ABSTRACT: Viruses are the most abundant biological entities on earth and show remarkable diversity of genome sequences, replication and expression strategies, and virion structures. Evolutionary genomics of viruses revealed many unexpected connections but the general scenario(s) for the evolution of the virosphere remains a matter of intense debate among proponents of the cellular regression, escaped genes, and primordial virus world hypotheses. A comprehensive sequence and structure analysis of major virion proteins indicates that they evolved on about 20 independent occasions, and in some of these cases likely ancestors are identifiable among the proteins of cellular organisms. Virus genomes typically consist of distinct structural and replication modules that recombine frequently and can have dif

SUBMITTER: Krupovic M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5373398 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature