Geissler E, Theile M
Hum Genet. 1983;63(1):1-12. doi: 10.1007/BF00285389.
Most animal viruses studied so far induce chromosomal aberrations. In addition, adenoviruses, papovaviruses, and retroviruses are known to induce gene mutations like mutagenic bacteriophages. At least in one case studied retrovirus induced mutagenesis involves gene and/or scripton splitting analogous to the mutagenic mechanism of action of mutatorphage Mu and other movable DNA elements. On the contrary, several results obtained by independent means indicate that Simian virus 40, a papovavirus, does not act by splitting the affected gene but presumably by generation of base pair substitutions or of other minor DNA damages leading to amino acid substitutions. The mechanisms involved are still unknown. There a some hints, however, that these mechanisms might have some step(s) in common with processes leading to malignancy. In fact those viruses proved unequivocally so far to be capable of inducing gene mutations are oncogenic viruses.
迄今为止研究的大多数动物病毒都会诱发染色体畸变。此外，已知腺病毒、乳头瘤病毒和逆转录病毒会像诱变噬菌体一样诱发基因突变。至少在一项研究中，逆转录病毒诱导的诱变涉及基因和/或转录子分裂，类似于诱变噬菌体Mu和其他可移动DNA元件的诱变作用机制。相反，通过独立方法获得的一些结果表明，乳头瘤病毒猿猴病毒40并非通过分裂受影响的基因起作用，而是可能通过产生碱基对替换或其他导致氨基酸替换的轻微DNA损伤起作用。其中涉及的机制仍然未知。然而，有一些线索表明，这些机制可能与导致恶性肿瘤的过程有某些共同步骤。事实上，迄今为止已明确证明能够诱发基因突变的那些病毒都是致癌病毒。
