title: Ancient Recombination Events between Human Herpes Simplex Viruses.
abstract: Herpes simplex viruses 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2) are seen as close relatives but also unambiguously considered as evolutionary independent units. Here, we sequenced the genomes of 18 HSV-2 isolates characterized by divergent UL30 gene sequences to further elucidate the evolutionary history of this virus. Surprisingly, genome-wide recombination analyses showed that all HSV-2 genomes sequenced to date contain HSV-1 fragments. Using phylogenomic analyses, we could also show that two main HSV-2 lineages exist. One lineage is mostly restricted to subSaharan Africa whereas the other has reached a global distribution. Interestingly, only the worldwide lineage is characterized by ancient recombination events with HSV-1. Our findings highlight the complexity of HSV-2 evolution, a virus of putative zoonotic origin which later recombined with its human-adapted relative. They also suggest that coinfections with HSV-1 and 2 may have genomic and potentially functional consequences and should therefore be monitored more closely.
authors.affiliation: National Reference Centre for Herpesviruses, Paris, France.|AP-HP, University Hospital La Pitié-Salpêtrière - Charles Foix, Virology Department and Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CR7, CIMI, INSERM U1135, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Burrel
authors.affiliation: National Reference Centre for Herpesviruses, Paris, France.|AP-HP, University Hospital La Pitié-Salpêtrière - Charles Foix, Virology Department and Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CR7, CIMI, INSERM U1135, Paris, France.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Boutolleau
authors.affiliation: Robert Koch Institut, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Diane
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ryu
authors.affiliation: AP-HP, University Hospital La Pitié-Salpêtrière - Charles Foix, Virology Department and Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CR7, CIMI, INSERM U1135, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Henri
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Agut
authors.affiliation: Robert Koch Institut, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Merkel
authors.affiliation: Robert Koch Institut, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Fabian H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Leendertz
authors.affiliation: Robert Koch Institut, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Sébastien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Calvignac-Spencer
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D014644:Genetic Variation; D016678:Genome / Q000235:genetics; D016679:Genome, Viral; D023281:Genomics; D018259:Herpesvirus 1, Human / Q000235:genetics; D018258:Herpesvirus 2, Human / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D011995:Recombination, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000379:methods; D018139:Simplexvirus / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral
keywords: human herpes simplex virus; phylogenomics; recombination