Evolutionary persistence of insect bunyavirus infection despite host acquisition and expression of the viral nucleoprotein gene.

ABSTRACT: How insects combat RNA virus infection is a subject of intensive research owing to its importance in insect health, virus evolution, and disease transmission. In recent years, a pair of potentially linked phenomena have come to light as a result of this work-first, the pervasive production of viral DNA from exogenous nonretroviral RNA in infected individuals, and second, the widespread distribution of nonretroviral integrated RNA virus sequences (NIRVs) in the genomes of diverse eukaryotes. The evolutionary consequences of NIRVs for viruses are unclear and the field would benefit from studies of natural virus infections co-occurring with recent integrations, an exceedingly rare circumstance in the literature. Here, we provide evidence that a novel insect-infecting phasmavirus (Order Bunyav

SUBMITTER: Ballinger MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6620529 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature