title: Evolutionary relatedness of viper and primate endogenous retroviruses.
abstract: A retrovirus previously isolated from a tumored Russell's viper is shown by molecular hybridization to be an endogenous virus of this reptilian species. Radio-immunologic techniques revealed that the viper retrovirus is immunologically and, hence, evolutionarily related to endogenous type D retorviruses of Old World primates. These findings extend the number of vertebrate classes possessing endogenous retroviruses and suggest that type D retroviruses may even be more widely distributed in nature than type C retroviruses.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D001483:Base Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D005814:Genes, Viral; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D011323:Primates / Q000382:microbiology*; D012190:Retroviridae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D012911:Snakes / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology*; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000956:Antigens, Viral; D014764:Viral Proteins