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Pan-vertebrate comparative genomics unmasks retrovirus macroevolution

Alexander Hayward1, Charlie K Cornwallis2, Patric Jern1

  • 1Science for Life Laboratory, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, SE-75123, Sweden; and Patric.Jern@imbim.uu.se Alexander.Hayward@zoologi.su.se.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|December 24, 2014
PubMed
Summary

Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) reveal widespread, ancient retroviral activity across vertebrates. These ancient viral sequences show retroviruses are adaptable generalists with frequent host switching, influenced by factors like internal fertilization.

Keywords:
endogenous retrovirusevolutionphylogeneticsretrovirustransmission

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