Endogenous viruses in viruses

Viruses are everywhere.

Theyre even in other viruses.

:-|

A couple of scientists at Portland States 'Center for Life in Extreme Environments' just found a virus in the sediment of Boiling Springs Lake in Lassen Volcanic National Park ('boiling'? 'volcanic'? sounds cozy!). It is a single-strand, circular DNA virus.

Well, okee dokie! Every new virus we find is a good thing-- helps us find new genes that evolution has already invented for us, helps us understand the evolution of viruses, its fun!

But what makes this guy so neat is that it is a DNA virus... with the capsid (structural core, think gag) normally found in RNA viruses. At some point in time, a DNA viruses genome incorporated and domesticated genes from another virus. An RNA virus.

A novel virus genome discovered in an extreme environment suggests recombination between unrelated groups of RNA and DNA viruses

The known virosphere consists of three principal viral types; the RNA-only viruses, which do not require a DNA intermediate in the replication cycle, viruses with DNA-based genomes, and retroid viruses that require the reverse transcription of their RNA into DNA during the virus life-cycle. Lateral exchange of viral genes, via multiple possible mechanisms, is rampant among viruses within each of these principal types, but is generally confined to closely related viruses, or viruses (and plasmids) with similar replication mechanisms. Clear examples of recent lateral gene transfer (LGT) from RNA-only to DNA-only viral types have not been observed.

Until now.

We report the discovery of a group of circovirus-like DNA genomes whose common ancestor appears to have incorporated a capsid protein (CP) gene known previously only in RNA viruses. The mechanism responsible for the integration of the RNA virus cistron into the DNA virus, and the point in evolutionary time at which it occurred, are unclear.

And these two scientists didnt just find *this* virus. They used the information they learned form *this* virus to go digging around Craig Venters sequence database, Global Ocean Sampling Expidition, and they found *more* previously uncharacterized viruses with this same phenotype.

What does this mean?

As RNA viruses are believed to evolutionarily precede the emergence of DNA viruses, determining the mechanism responsible for direct recombination between RNA and DNA viruses may help address how genes from the "RNA World" were first incorporated into nascent DNA-based genomes during the putative "Virus World" era, and thus further implicate viruses in the RNA-World to DNA-World transition. In any case, the discovery of the BSL RDHV-like virus group extends the modular theory of virus evolution to encompass a much broader range of possibilities than previously thought.

While this is cool-- One thing that I see that they failed to mention was a potentially novel laboratory tool. There is stuff I use in the laboratory every day that we stole and commercialized from viruses, bacteria, fungi, etc. An enzyme or process that can hybridize RNA and DNA and turn it into a DNA expression vector of some kind, that might be fun...

More like this

SWEEEEET! Scientists found a brand new branch of organisms in the boiling acid pools or Yellowstone National Park! Identification of novel positive-strand RNA viruses by metagenomic analysis of archaea-dominated Yellowstone Hot Springs HA! Before we had only found DNA viruses in these pools, DNA…
Its not so hard to get your head around endogenous retroviruses once you get the gist of them. RNA virus turns itself into DNA, inserts itself into your genome, makes babby viruses. Sometimes the RNA virus infects an egg/sperm, turns itself into DNA, inserts itself into the genome, and that egg/…
This morning it was announced that two American scientists won the Nobel Prize in Physiology and or Medicine, for their 1998 discovery of a hidden network of genes. It may seem odd that a network of genes could lurk undiscovered for so long. But the cell is very much a mysterious place. In the…
Part IV. Assembling the details and making the case for a novel paramyxovirus This is the fourth in a five part series on an unexpected discovery of a paramyxovirus in a mosquito. In this part, we take a look at all the evidence we can find and try to figure out how a gene from a virus came to be…

You don't mention who did this work, but I'm guessing it's Ken Steadman's lab, right?

By Bill Door (not verified) on 19 Apr 2012 #permalink

Oh for Petes sake, I forgot to add the link to the paper *facepalm*

*fixed*

Thanks, Bill, and yes, its Steadmans lab :)

An enzyme or process that can hybridize RNA and DNA and turn it into a DNA expression vector of some kind, that might be fun

Fun? How about feakin'amzinglytotallyawsome!

An enzyme or process that can hybridize RNA and DNA and turn it into a DNA expression vector of some kind, that might be fun...

I love this sentence so much.

An enzyme or process that can hybridize RNA and DNA and turn it into a DNA expression vector of some kind, that might be fun...

Sounds like a good entry for S**t Scientists Say....

By Michael Kelsey (not verified) on 19 Apr 2012 #permalink

Hey Abbie, just testing out new comment system on a blog I don't have power over... don't mind me.

By Kevin Bonham (not verified) on 12 May 2012 #permalink

that might be fun

Some things transcend disciplines. About half of the group knows what I mean when I'm working on a problem and mutter "this is so freaking cool." Sadly, the rest just don't get it.

By D. C. Sessions (not verified) on 19 Apr 2012 #permalink

That's really insane.

P.S. Years ago, I decided I didn't want to pursue a PhD... but whenever I read such an interesting article, it makes me wonder about my life choices lol...

Keep the good stuff coming!