Ancient origin and complex evolution of porcine endogenous retroviruses

Yicong Chen; Mingyue Chen; Xiaoyan Duan; Jie Cui

Biosafety and Health (Sep 2020)

Ancient origin and complex evolution of porcine endogenous retroviruses

Yicong Chen,
Mingyue Chen,
Xiaoyan Duan,
Jie Cui

Affiliations

Yicong Chen: Wuhan Institute of Virology, Center for Biosafety Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China; CAS Key Laboratory of Molecular Virology and Immunology, Institut Pasteur of Shanghai, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Mingyue Chen: National 111 Center for Cellular Regulation and Molecular Pharmaceutics, Key Laboratory of Fermentation Engineering, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, China
Xiaoyan Duan: Wuhan Institute of Virology, Center for Biosafety Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Jie Cui: Wuhan Institute of Virology, Center for Biosafety Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China; CAS Key Laboratory of Molecular Virology and Immunology, Institut Pasteur of Shanghai, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China; Corresponding author: Wuhan Institute of Virology, Center for Biosafety Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China.

Journal volume & issue: Vol. 2, no. 3
pp. 142 – 151

Abstract

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Porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERVs) are proviruses that have medical value in xenotransplantation. However, the evolutionary process leading to the generation of modern PERVs is not well understood. In this study, we in silico mined 14 pig genomes and other available 304 mammalian genomes, which led to the documentation of 185 full-length PERVs or PERV-like sequences. Notably, we found that lesser Egyptian jerboa (Jaculus jaculus), rock hyrax (Procavia capensis) and eight Muridae species all harbored ancestral PERV-like sequences, indicative of ancient cross-species transmission events from none-porcine species to pigs. We also revealed that 11 genomic rearrangement events were mediated via PERVs, during the process of porcine evolution. In conclusion, these new findings help us to understand the complex evolution of the modern PERVs.

Published in Biosafety and Health

ISSN: 2590-0536 (Online)
Publisher: Elsevier
Country of publisher: Netherlands
LCC subjects: Medicine: Internal medicine: Infectious and parasitic diseases; Medicine: Public aspects of medicine
Website: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/biosafety-and-health/

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