Origins and Evolutionary Relationships of Retroviruses
1989/03/01 by R. F. Doolittle, R.F. Doolittle, M. S. Johnson +3 · 586 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Biology #Chromosomal and Genetic Variations #Endogenous retrovirus #Enzyme #Gene #Genetics #Genome #Group-specific antigen #Human virome #Murine leukemia virus #Phylogenetics #Plant Virus Research Studies #Plant and Fungal Interactions Research #Proteases #RNA #RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase #Retrotransposon #Retrovirus #Reverse transcriptase #Transposable element #Viral evolution #Virology #Virus
paper · doi:10.1086/416128
published in The Quarterly Review of Biology 64(1), 1-30 (University of Chicago Press)
openalex publication_date 1989/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Abstract
As is the case for some other RNA viruses, the amino acid sequences of retroviral proteins change at an astonishing rate. For example, the proteases of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the visna lentivirus with which it is often compared are as different as the proteases of fungi and mammals, and those of the human type I leukemia virus are as different from HIV or visna as are the proteins of humans and bacteria. That the sequences of retrovirus proteins can be recognized as sharing common ancestry with non-retroviral proteins implies that the vastly accelerated change has begun only recently or occurs very sporadically. Only a scheme whereby exogenous retroviruses exist as short-lived bursts upon a backdrop of germline-encoded endogenous viruses is consistent with the sequence data. Retroviruses are related to many other reverse transcriptase-bearing entities present in the genomes of eukaryotes. They also have proteins that are homologous with those of some plant and animal DNA viruses, and their reverse transcriptase is recognizably similar to sequences found in the introns of some fungal mitochondria. Computer alignment of all these sequences allows an overall phylogeny to be constructed that chronicles the history of events leading to infectious retroviruses.
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