Institut Pasteur, Unité Biologie Moléculaire du Gène chez les Extrêmophiles, Department of Microbiology, Paris 75015, France.
National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20894, USA.
Nat Rev Microbiol. 2015 Feb;13(2):105-15. doi: 10.1038/nrmicro3389. Epub 2014 Dec 22.
Polintons (also known as Mavericks) are large DNA transposons that are widespread in the genomes of eukaryotes. We have recently shown that Polintons encode virus capsid proteins, which suggests that these transposons might form virions, at least under some conditions. In this Opinion article, we delineate the evolutionary relationships among bacterial tectiviruses, Polintons, adenoviruses, virophages, large and giant DNA viruses of eukaryotes of the proposed order 'Megavirales', and linear mitochondrial and cytoplasmic plasmids. We hypothesize that Polintons were the first group of eukaryotic double-stranded DNA viruses to evolve from bacteriophages and that they gave rise to most large DNA viruses of eukaryotes and various other selfish genetic elements.
多利顿（也称为 Mavericks）是一种广泛存在于真核生物基因组中的大型 DNA 转座子。我们最近发现，多利顿编码病毒衣壳蛋白，这表明这些转座子至少在某些条件下可能形成病毒粒子。在这篇观点文章中，我们描绘了细菌 tectiviruses、多利顿、腺病毒、噬病毒体、拟议的“巨型病毒目”真核生物的大型和巨型 DNA 病毒以及线性线粒体和细胞质质粒之间的进化关系。我们假设多利顿是第一批从噬菌体进化而来的真核双链 DNA 病毒，它们产生了大多数真核生物的大型 DNA 病毒和其他各种自私的遗传元件。
