biostudies-literatureUnknown5Geering ADThe extent and importance of endogenous viral elements have been extensively described in animals but are much less well understood in plants. Here we describe a new genus of Caulimoviridae called 'Florendovirus', members of which have colonized the genomes of a large diversity of flowering plants, sometimes at very high copy numbers (>0.5% total genome content). The genome invasion of Oryza is dated to over 1.8 million years ago (MYA) but phylogeographic evidence points to an even older age of 20-34 MYA for this virus group. Some appear to have had a bipartite genome organization, a unique characteristic among viral retroelements. In Vitis vinifera, 9% of the endogenous florendovirus loci are located within introns and therefore may influence host gene expression. The frequent colocation Nature communications5269https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC4241990biostudies-literatureEndogenous florendoviruses are major components of plant genomes and hallmarks of virus evolution.PMC4241990Zwickl DJChoisne NMcTaggart ARTeycheney PYMaumus FScalabrin SVezzulli SGeering ADCopetti DZytnicki MWing RAQuesneville HfalseEndogenous florendoviruses are major components of plant genomes and hallmarks of virus evolution.The extent and importance of endogenous viral elements have been extensively described in animals but are much less well understood in plants. Here we describe a new genus of Caulimoviridae called 'Florendovirus', members of which have colonized the genomes of a large diversity of flowering plants, sometimes at very high copy numbers (>0.5% total genome content). The genome invasion of Oryza is dated to over 1.8 million years ago (MYA) but phylogeographic evidence points to an even older age of 20-34 MYA for this virus group. Some appear to have had a bipartite genome organization, a unique characteristic among viral retroelements. In Vitis vinifera, 9% of the endogenous florendovirus loci are located within introns and therefore may influence host gene expression. The frequent colocation 2014-01-01T00:00:00Z2014 Nov2026-05-04T00:56:49.268Z2026-04-07T19:51:50.809ZS-EPMC42419902538188010.1038/ncomms6269