A whale of a virus story

The ancestors of cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) moved from land to the sea over 50 million years ago. Many viruses infect cetaceans, but how they evolved during the shift from land to sea is unknown. Fossilized retroviral genomes integrated into cetacean DNA provide insight into this question. The retroviral reproduction cycle involves the conversion […]
Source: virology blog - Category: Virology Authors: Tags: Basic virology Information cetacean endogenous retrovirus ERV phylogenetic analysis viral viruses Source Type: blogs