title: Loop model: mechanism to explain partial gene duplications in segmented dsRNA viruses.
abstract: Gene rearrangements in a head-to-tail fashion have been described several times for gene segments of the rota-, phytoreo-, and orbiviruses. Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain the occurrence of partial duplications, however, none of these models has been fully satisfactory to explain the occurrence of all the observed duplicated genes. Based on recently available structural data about the lambda3 RNA-dependent-RNA-polymerase of reoviruses, we propose the 'loop model' as a plausible explanation for the occurrence of partial gene duplications in dsRNA viruses.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Clinical and Epidemiological Virology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Rega Institute for Medical Research, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jelle
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Matthijnssens
authors.forename: Mustafizur
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rahman
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Van Ranst
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D020440:Gene Duplication; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008957:Models, Genetic; D012328:RNA Viruses / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics*