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LINE-1 retrotransposons facilitate horizontal gene transfer into poxviruses

Authors :
M Julhasur Rahman
Sherry L Haller
Ana MM Stoian
Jie Li
Greg Brennan
Stefan Rothenburg
Source :
eLife, Vol 11 (2022)
Publication Year :
2022
Publisher :
eLife Sciences Publications Ltd, 2022.

Abstract

There is ample phylogenetic evidence that many critical virus functions, like immune evasion, evolved by the acquisition of genes from their hosts through horizontal gene transfer (HGT). However, the lack of an experimental system has prevented a mechanistic understanding of this process. We developed a model to elucidate the mechanisms of HGT into vaccinia virus, the prototypic poxvirus. All identified gene capture events showed signatures of long interspersed nuclear element-1 (LINE-1)-mediated retrotransposition, including spliced-out introns, polyadenylated tails, and target site duplications. In one case, the acquired gene integrated together with a polyadenylated host U2 small nuclear RNA. Integrations occurred across the genome, in some cases knocking out essential viral genes. These essential gene knockouts were rescued through a process of complementation by the parent virus followed by nonhomologous recombination during serial passaging to generate a single, replication-competent virus. This work links multiple evolutionary mechanisms into one adaptive cascade and identifies host retrotransposons as major drivers for virus evolution.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
2050084X
Volume :
11
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
eLife
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.15294a9833ac415b978d011df0890a85
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.63327