title: Discovery of STL polyomavirus, a polyomavirus of ancestral recombinant origin that encodes a unique T antigen by alternative splicing.
abstract: The family Polyomaviridae is comprised of circular double-stranded DNA viruses, several of which are associated with diseases, including cancer, in immunocompromised patients. Here we describe a novel polyomavirus recovered from the fecal microbiota of a child in Malawi, provisionally named STL polyomavirus (STLPyV). We detected STLPyV in clinical stool specimens from USA and The Gambia at up to 1% frequency. Complete genome comparisons of two STLPyV strains demonstrated 5.2% nucleotide divergence. Alternative splicing of the STLPyV early region yielded a unique form of T antigen, which we named 229T, in addition to the expected large and small T antigens. STLPyV has a mosaic genome and shares an ancestral recombinant origin with MWPyV. The discovery of STLPyV highlights a novel alternative splicing strategy and advances our understanding of the complex evolutionary history of polyomaviruses.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Molecular Microbiology and Pathology & Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
authors.forename: Efrem S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reyes
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Antonio
authors.forename: Debasish
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Saha
authors.forename: Usman N
authors.initials: UN
authors.lastname: Ikumapayi
authors.forename: Mitchell
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Adeyemi
authors.forename: O Colin
authors.initials: OC
authors.lastname: Stine
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Skelton
authors.forename: Daniel C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Brennan
authors.forename: Rajhab S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Mkakosya
authors.forename: Mark J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Manary
authors.forename: Jeffrey I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Gordon
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017398:Alternative Splicing; D000957:Antigens, Viral, Tumor / Q000235:genetics; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology*; D005260:Female; D005714:Gambia; D015967:Gene Expression Regulation, Viral; D016679:Genome, Viral; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008295:Malawi; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D011120:Polyomavirus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D027601:Polyomavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D015995:Prevalence; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D000957:Antigens, Viral, Tumor; D004279:DNA, Viral