Tracheophyte genomes keep track of the deep evolution of the Caulimoviridae

Endogenous viral elements (EVEs) are viral sequences that are integrated in the nuclear genomes of their hosts and are signatures of viral infections that may have occurred millions of years ago. The study of EVEs, coined paleovirology, provides important insights into virus evolution. The Caulimoviridae is the most common group of EVEs in plants, although their presence has often been overlooked in plant genome studies. We have refined methods for the identification of caulimovirid EVEs and interrogated the genomes of a broad diversity of plant taxa, from algae to advanced flowering plants. Evidence is provided that almost every vascular plant (tracheophyte), including the most primitive taxa (clubmosses, ferns and gymnosperms) contains caulimovirid EVEs, many of which represent previously unrecognized evolutionary branches. In angiosperms, EVEs from at least one and as many as five different caulimovirid genera were frequently detected, and florendoviruses were the most widely distributed, followed by petuviruses. From the analysis of the distribution of different caulimovirid genera within different plant species, we propose a working evolutionary scenario in which this family of viruses emerged at latest during Devonian era (approx. 320 million years ago) followed by vertical transmission and by several cross-division host swaps.

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It is known that the most suitable plant indicator targets for radiation pollution biomonitoring are conifers, because they have high radiosensitivity. In this review are briefly considered previously accumulated information about the genetic nature of morphological abnormalities in gymnosperms, induced by acute and chronic irradiation in the exclusion zone of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant. Since in the last decade appeared additional number of important research results, dedicated to the analysis of molecular biological and molecular genetic effects of chronic irradiation on the coniferous plants growing in the exclusion zone of the Chornobyl disaster, all these results are also analyzed in current review.

A new endornavirus species infecting Malabar spinach (Basella alba L.)

A putative new endornavirus was isolated from Malabar spinach (Basella alba). The viral dsRNA consisted of 14,027 nt with a single ORF that coded for a polyprotein of 4,508 aa. The genome organization was similar to that of four other endornaviruses. Conserved domains for helicase-1, capsular synthase, UDP-glucose-glycosyltransferase (UGT), and RdRp were detected. Infected plants were phenotypically undistinguishable from healthy ones. The name Basella alba endornavirus is proposed for the virus isolated from Malabar spinach.