
動物ウイルス間で驚くほど多様な遺伝子キメラが存在することが明らかになった。これらのキメラには、既知のDNA複製モジュールや既知のウイリオンタンパク質オペロンが、未知の複製酵素や新規のウイリオン構造を表す可能性のある配列と組み合わさっている。


coremsg

The initial objective of this study was to shed light on the evolution of small DNA tumor viruses by analyzing de novo assemblies of publicly available deep sequencing datasets. The survey generated a searchable database of contig snapshots representing more than 100,000 Sequence Read Archive records. Using modern structure-aware search tools, we iteratively broadened the search to include an increasingly wide range of other virus families. The analysis revealed a surprisingly diverse range of chimeras involving different virus groups. In some instances, genes resembling known DNA-replication modules or known virion protein operons were paired with unrecognizable sequences that structural predictions suggest may represent previously unknown replicases and novel virion architectures. Discrete clades of an emerging group called adintoviruses were discovered in datasets representing humans and other primates. As a proof of concept, we show that the contig database is also useful for discovering RNA viruses and candidate archaeal phages. The ancillary searches revealed additional examples of chimerization between different virus groups. The observations support a gene-centric taxonomic framework that should be useful for future virus-hunting efforts.

### Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

動物ウイルス間での広範な水平遺伝子転移