Takeuchi, Y;
Myers, R;
Danos, O;
(2008)
Recombination and Population Mosaic of a Multifunctional Viral Gene, Adeno-Associated Virus cap.
PLOS ONE
, 3
(2)
, Article e1634. 10.1371/journal.pone.0001634.
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Abstract
Homologous recombination is a dominant force in evolution and results in genetic mosaics. To detect evidence of recombination events and assess the biological significance of genetic mosaics, genome sequences for various viral populations of reasonably large size are now available in the GenBank. We studied a multi-functional viral gene, the adeno-associated virus (AAV) cap gene, which codes for three capsid proteins, VP1, VP2 and VP3. VP1-3 share a common C-terminal domain corresponding to VP3, which forms the viral core structure, while the VP1 unique N-terminal part contains an enzymatic domain with phospholipase A2 activity. Our recombinant detection program (RecI) revealed five novel recombination events, four of which have their cross-over points in the N-terminal, VP1 and VP2 unique region. Comparison of phylogenetic trees for different cap gene regions confirmed discordant phylogenies for the recombinant sequences. Furthermore, differences in the phylogenetic tree structures for the VP1 unique (VP1u) region and the rest of cap highlighted the mosaic nature of cap gene in the AAV population: two dominant forms of VP1u sequences were identified and these forms are linked to diverse sequences in the rest of cap gene. This observation together with the finding of frequent recombination in the VP1 and 2 unique regions suggests that this region is a recombination hot spot. Recombination events in this region preserve protein blocks of distinctive functions and contribute to convergence in VP1u and divergence of the rest of cap. Additionally the possible biological significance of two dominant VP1u forms is inferred.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Recombination and Population Mosaic of a Multifunctional Viral Gene, Adeno-Associated Virus cap |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0001634 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0001634 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2008 Takeuchi et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This work was funded by UCL Clinical Research and Development Committee. This sponsor played no role in the design and conduct of the study, in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data, and in the preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Div of Infection and Immunity |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/56131 |
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