Newly discovered viral genome

[Overstressed]

An interesting article on ScienceDaily.com:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120418204353.htm

An excerpt:

"They found a unique viral genome that has never before been reported -- a circular, single-stranded DNA virus encoding a major capsid protein seen previously only in RNA viruses. This unusual genome provides proof that integration of an RNA virus into a DNA virus may have occurred between two unrelated virus groups at some point in evolution -- something that has not been observed before. Moreover, this suggests that entirely new virus types may emerge via recombination of functional and structural modules between vastly different viruses, using mechanisms that are as-yet unknown."


This might explain why I easily infected the people around me but didn't fit the way retroviruses spread. But the way I contracted it, totally fits the retrovirus infection. Are we harbouring such a virus ?


Best regards,
OS.

 

[anciendaze]

This is not completely unprecedented. Hepdnaviruses, like hepatitis B, are DNA viruses, but they use reverse transcriptase when they replicate. An RNA intermediate is converted into DNA. This certainly looks like a combination of two very different viruses: a retrovirus which carries its genome in RNA and a DNA virus.