Novel lineage of anelloviruses with large genomes identified in dolphins
Anelloviruses are ubiquitous in mammals, but their infection has not yet been linked to any disease, suggesting a commensal virus-host relationship. Here, we describe the first anelloviruses associated with diverse species of dolphins. The dolphinid anelloviruses represent a new genus (tentatively named "Qoptorquevirus") and encode open reading frame 1 (ORF1) (capsid) proteins that are considerably larger than those encoded by previously described anelloviruses from other hosts. Comprehensive analysis of the ORF1 sequences and predicted protein structures revealed the underlying structural basis for such an extravagant ORF1 size and suggested that ORF1 size increased convergently in the anelloviruses associated with primate and Delphinidae hosts, respectively. Collectively, our results provide insights into the diversity and evolution of <i>Anelloviridae</i>. Further exploration of the anellovirus diversity, especially in the host species that have not yet been sampled, is expected to further clarify their evolutionary trajectory and explain the unusual virus-host commensal relationship.
Authors
- Rafaela S. Fontenele (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5638-7134)
- Katharine R. Hall
- Vincent S. Reid
- Kendal Smith (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-1534-1906)
- Mart Krupovìč (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5486-0098)
- Eugene V. Koonin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3943-8299)
- Arvind Varsani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4111-2415)
- Simona Kraberger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7037-9242)
- Kara Schmidlin
- Russell Fielding (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5401-2141)
- Kelsie Schiavone (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9467-3809)
- Diallo Boyea
- Emma L. Smith (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5143-340X)
- Matthew D. De Koch
- Darren P. Martin
Institutions
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Sewanee: The University of the South (US)
- Institut Pasteur (FR)
- University of Cape Town (ZA)
- Université Paris Cité (FR)
- Coastal Carolina University (US)
- Integra (United States) (US)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information (US)
- University of the West Indies (JM)
- SalvageBlue (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines) (VC)
- University of the West Indies (BB)
- Arizona State University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Virology
- Published
- 2024-12-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1128/jvi.01370-24
- Citations
- 6
- Primary Topic
- Animal Virus Infections Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.05
Funders
- Arizona State University
- National Institutes of Health
- U.S. National Library of Medicine