National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20894, USA.
BMC Biol. 2010 Jan 12;8:2. doi: 10.1186/1741-7007-8-2.
Genomes of several yeast species contain integrated DNA copies of complete genomes or individual genes of non-retroviral double-strand RNA viruses as reported in a recent BMC Biology article by Taylor and Bruenn. The integrated virus-specific sequences are at least partially expressed and seem to evolve under pressure of purifying selection, indicating that these are functional genes. Together with similar reports on integrated copies of some animal RNA viruses, these results suggest that integration of DNA copies of non-reverse-transcribing RNA viruses might be much more common than previously thought. The integrated copies could contribute to acquired immunity to the respective viruses.
泰勒和布鲁恩在最近发表于 BMC 生物学杂志的一篇文章中报道,几种酵母物种的基因组中含有完整的非逆转录 RNA 病毒基因组或个别基因的整合 DNA 拷贝。整合的病毒特异性序列至少部分表达,并似乎在纯化选择的压力下进化,表明这些是功能性基因。与一些动物 RNA 病毒整合拷贝的类似报告一起,这些结果表明,非逆转录 RNA 病毒 DNA 拷贝的整合可能比以前认为的更为普遍。整合的拷贝可能有助于对相应病毒获得获得性免疫。