Spatiotemporal variations in retrovirus-host interactions among Darwin’s finches

Jason Hill (), Mette Lillie (), Mats E. Pettersson, Carl-Johan Rubin, B. Rosemary Grant, Peter R. Grant, Leif Andersson and Patric Jern ()
Additional contact information
Jason Hill: Uppsala University
Mette Lillie: Uppsala University
Mats E. Pettersson: Uppsala University
Carl-Johan Rubin: Uppsala University
B. Rosemary Grant: Princeton University
Peter R. Grant: Princeton University
Leif Andersson: Uppsala University
Patric Jern: Uppsala University

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are inherited remnants of retroviruses that colonized host germline over millions of years, providing a sampling of retroviral diversity across time. Here, we utilize the strength of Darwin’s finches, a system synonymous with evolutionary studies, for investigating ERV history, revealing recent retrovirus-host interactions in natural populations. By mapping ERV variation across all species of Darwin’s finches and comparing with outgroup species, we highlight geographical and historical patterns of retrovirus-host occurrence, utilizing the system for evaluating the extent and timing of retroviral activity in hosts undergoing adaptive radiation and colonization of new environments. We find shared ERVs among all samples indicating retrovirus-host associations pre-dating host speciation, as well as considerable ERV variation across populations of the entire Darwin’s finches’ radiation. Unexpected ERV variation in finch species on different islands suggests historical changes in gene flow and selection. Non-random distribution of ERVs along and between chromosomes, and across finch species, suggests association between ERV accumulation and the rapid speciation of Darwin’s finches.

Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-33723-w Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-33723-w

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33723-w

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().