title: Plant viruses of the Amalgaviridae family evolved via recombination between viruses with double-stranded and negative-strand RNA genomes.
abstract: Plant viruses of the recently recognized family Amalgaviridae have monopartite double-stranded (ds) RNA genomes and encode two proteins: an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) and a putative capsid protein (CP). Whereas the RdRp of amalgaviruses has been found to be most closely related to the RdRps of dsRNA viruses of the family Partitiviridae, the provenance of their CP remained obscure. Here we show that the CP of amalgaviruses is homologous to the nucleocapsid proteins of negative-strand RNA viruses of the genera Phlebovirus (Bunyaviridae) and Tenuivirus. The chimeric genomes of amalgaviruses are a testament to the effectively limitless gene exchange between viruses that shaped the evolution of the virosphere.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Unité Biologie Moléculaire du Gène chez les Extrêmophiles, Institut Pasteur, Paris, 75015, France. krupovic@pasteur.fr.
authors.forename: Mart
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Krupovic
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA. doljav@science.oregonstate.edu.
authors.forename: Valerian V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Dolja
authors.affiliation: National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20894, USA. koonin@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
authors.forename: Eugene V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Koonin
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D019295:Computational Biology; D016208:Databases, Factual; D016679:Genome, Viral; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019590:Nucleocapsid Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D010942:Plant Viruses / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D011485:Protein Binding; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry; D012328:RNA Viruses / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D012330:RNA, Double-Stranded / Q000235:genetics*; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D012324:RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase / Q000235:genetics; D020539:Sequence Analysis, Protein; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D019590:Nucleocapsid Proteins; D012330:RNA, Double-Stranded; D012367:RNA, Viral; D012313:RNA; D012324:RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase