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JC virus evolution and its association with human populations.

ABSTRACT: The ubiquitous human polyomavirus JC (JCV) is a small double-stranded DNA virus that establishes a persistent infection, and it is often transmitted from parents to children. There are at least 14 subtypes of the virus associated with different human populations. Because of its presumed codivergence with humans, JCV has been used as a genetic marker for human evolution and migration. Codivergence has also been used as a basis for estimating the rate of nucleotide substitution in JCV. We tested the hypothesis of host-virus codivergence by (i) performing a reconciliation analysis of phylogenetic trees of human and JCV populations and (ii) providing the first estimate of the evolutionary rate of JCV that is independent from the assumption of codivergence. Strikingly, our comparisons of JCV and human phylogenies provided no evidence for codivergence, suggesting that this virus should not be used as a marker for human population history. Further, while the estimated nucleotide substitution rate of JCV has large confidence intervals due to limited sampling, our analysis suggests that this virus may evolve nearly two orders of magnitude faster than predicted under the codivergence hypothesis.

SUBMITTER: Shackelton LA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1617318 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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JC virus evolution and its association with human populations.

Shackelton Laura A LA Rambaut Andrew A Pybus Oliver G OG Holmes Edward C EC

Journal of virology 20061001 20

The ubiquitous human polyomavirus JC (JCV) is a small double-stranded DNA virus that establishes a persistent infection, and it is often transmitted from parents to children. There are at least 14 subtypes of the virus associated with different human populations. Because of its presumed codivergence with humans, JCV has been used as a genetic marker for human evolution and migration. Codivergence has also been used as a basis for estimating the rate of nucleotide substitution in JCV. We tested t ...[more]

PMID: 17005670

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Project description:Virus infections can result in a range of cellular injuries and commonly this involves both the plasma and intracellular membranes, resulting in enhanced permeability. Viroporins are a group of proteins that interact with plasma membranes modifying permeability and can promote the release of viral particles. While these proteins are not essential for virus replication, their activity certainly promotes virus growth. Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a fatal demyelinating disease resulting from lytic infection of oligodendrocytes by the polyomavirus JC virus (JCV). The genome of JCV encodes six major proteins including a small auxiliary protein known as agnoprotein. Studies on other polyomavirus agnoproteins have suggested that the protein may contribute to viral propagation at various stages in the replication cycle, including transcription, translation, processing of late viral proteins, assembly of virions, and viral propagation. Previous studies from our and other laboratories have indicated that JCV agnoprotein plays an important, although as yet incompletely understood role in the propagation of JCV. Here, we demonstrate that agnoprotein possesses properties commonly associated with viroporins. Our findings demonstrate that: (i) A deletion mutant of agnoprotein is defective in virion release and viral propagation; (ii) Agnoprotein localizes to the ER early in infection, but is also found at the plasma membrane late in infection; (iii) Agnoprotein is an integral membrane protein and forms homo-oligomers; (iv) Agnoprotein enhances permeability of cells to the translation inhibitor hygromycin B; (v) Agnoprotein induces the influx of extracellular Ca(2+); (vi) The basic residues at amino acid positions 8 and 9 of agnoprotein key are determinants of the viroporin activity. The viroporin-like properties of agnoprotein result in increased membrane permeability and alterations in intracellular Ca(2+) homeostasis leading to membrane dysfunction and enhancement of virus release.

Dataset Information

JC virus evolution and its association with human populations.

Publications

JC virus evolution and its association with human populations.

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