1. Evolutionary Biology
  2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Poxviruses capture host genes by LINE-1 retrotransposition

  1. Sarah M Fixsen
  2. Kelsey R Cone
  3. Stephen A Goldstein
  4. Thomas A Sasani
  5. Aaron R Quinlan
  6. Stefan Rothenburg
  7. Nels C Elde  Is a corresponding author
  1. University of Utah, United States
  2. University of California, Davis, United States
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.63332
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  1. Sarah M Fixsen
  2. Kelsey R Cone
  3. Stephen A Goldstein
  4. Thomas A Sasani
  5. Aaron R Quinlan
  6. Stefan Rothenburg
  7. Nels C Elde
(2022)
Poxviruses capture host genes by LINE-1 retrotransposition
eLife 11:e63332.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.63332
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Abstract

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) provides a major source of genetic variation. Many viruses, including poxviruses, encode genes with crucial functions directly gained by gene transfer from hosts. The mechanism of transfer to poxvirus genomes is unknown. Using genome analysis and experimental screens of infected cells, we discovered a central role for Long Interspersed Nuclear Element-1 (LINE-1) retrotransposition in HGT to virus genomes. The process recapitulates processed pseudogene generation, but with host messenger RNA directed into virus genomes. Intriguingly, hallmark features of retrotransposition appear to favor virus adaption through rapid duplication of captured host genes on arrival. Our study reveals a previously unrecognized conduit of genetic traffic with fundamental implications for the evolution of many virus classes and their hosts.

Data availability

Sequencing data have been deposited in the NCBI SRA database under project code PRJNA614958.All data generated or analyses during this study are included in the manuscript and supplemental files.

The following data sets were generated

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Sarah M Fixsen

    Department of Human Genetics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.

  2. Kelsey R Cone

    Department of Human Genetics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-4547-7174

  3. Stephen A Goldstein

    Department of Human Genetics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.

  4. Thomas A Sasani

    Department of Human Genetics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-2317-1374

  5. Aaron R Quinlan

    Department of Human Genetics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.

  6. Stefan Rothenburg

    Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, Davis, Davis, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-2525-8230

  7. Nels C Elde

    Department of Human Genetics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, United States
    For correspondence
    nelde@genetics.utah.edu
    Competing interests
    Nels C Elde, Reviewing editor, eLife.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-0426-1377

Funding

National Institutes of Health (R35GM134936)

  • Nels C Elde

National Institutes of Health (T32GM007464)

  • Sarah M Fixsen
  • Thomas A Sasani

National Institutes of Health (T32AI055434)

  • Kelsey R Cone

Burroughs Wellcome Fund (1015462)

  • Nels C Elde

University of Utah (HA and Edna Benning Presidential Endowed Chair)

  • Nels C Elde

National Institutes of Health (R01AI146915)

  • Stefan Rothenburg

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Reviewing Editor

  1. Karla Kirkegaard, Stanford University School of Medicine, United States

Version history

  1. Received: September 22, 2020
  2. Preprint posted: October 27, 2020 (view preprint)
  3. Accepted: September 6, 2022
  4. Accepted Manuscript published: September 7, 2022 (version 1)
  5. Version of Record published: October 18, 2022 (version 2)

Copyright

© 2022, Fixsen et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Sarah M Fixsen
  2. Kelsey R Cone
  3. Stephen A Goldstein
  4. Thomas A Sasani
  5. Aaron R Quinlan
  6. Stefan Rothenburg
  7. Nels C Elde
(2022)
Poxviruses capture host genes by LINE-1 retrotransposition
eLife 11:e63332.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.63332

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Further reading

    1. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    LINE-1 retrotransposons facilitate horizontal gene transfer into poxviruses

    M Julhasur Rahman, Sherry L Haller ... Stefan Rothenburg
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    There is ample phylogenetic evidence that many critical virus functions, like immune evasion, evolved by the acquisition of genes from their hosts through horizontal gene transfer (HGT). However, the lack of an experimental system has prevented a mechanistic understanding of this process. We developed a model to elucidate the mechanisms of HGT into vaccinia virus, the prototypic poxvirus. All identified gene capture events showed signatures of long interspersed nuclear element-1 (LINE-1)-mediated retrotransposition, including spliced-out introns, polyadenylated tails, and target site duplications. In one case, the acquired gene integrated together with a polyadenylated host U2 small nuclear RNA. Integrations occurred across the genome, in some cases knocking out essential viral genes. These essential gene knockouts were rescued through a process of complementation by the parent virus followed by nonhomologous recombination during serial passaging to generate a single, replication-competent virus. This work links multiple evolutionary mechanisms into one adaptive cascade and identifies host retrotransposons as major drivers for virus evolution.

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    Evolution: A life LINE for large viruses

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    As long suspected, poxviruses capture host genes through a reverse-transcription process now shown to be mediated by retrotransposons.

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    Drug resistance remains a major obstacle to malaria control and eradication efforts, necessitating the development of novel therapeutic strategies to treat this disease. Drug combinations based on collateral sensitivity, wherein resistance to one drug causes increased sensitivity to the partner drug, have been proposed as an evolutionary strategy to suppress the emergence of resistance in pathogen populations. In this study, we explore collateral sensitivity between compounds targeting the Plasmodium dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH). We profiled the cross-resistance and collateral sensitivity phenotypes of several DHODH mutant lines to a diverse panel of DHODH inhibitors. We focus on one compound, TCMDC-125334, which was active against all mutant lines tested, including the DHODH C276Y line, which arose in selections with the clinical candidate DSM265. In six selections with TCMDC-125334, the most common mechanism of resistance to this compound was copy number variation of the dhodh locus, although we did identify one mutation, DHODH I263S, which conferred resistance to TCMDC-125334 but not DSM265. We found that selection of the DHODH C276Y mutant with TCMDC-125334 yielded additional genetic changes in the dhodh locus. These double mutant parasites exhibited decreased sensitivity to TCMDC-125334 and were highly resistant to DSM265. Finally, we tested whether collateral sensitivity could be exploited to suppress the emergence of resistance in the context of combination treatment by exposing wildtype parasites to both DSM265 and TCMDC-125334 simultaneously. This selected for parasites with a DHODH V532A mutation which were cross-resistant to both compounds and were as fit as the wildtype parent in vitro. The emergence of these cross-resistant, evolutionarily fit parasites highlights the mutational flexibility of the DHODH enzyme.