Element:SFV-1

Description Simian Foamy Virus type 1 (SFV-1) is a foamy retrovirus that belongs to the genus Spumaretrovirus (for a review see Meiering and Linial 2001). SFV-1 has orthologues in other mammals (Flügel 1991). Several studies have reported persistent SFV-1 infections in human beings exposed to apes. These zoonosis cases suggest that ape retroviruses can be transmitted to humans more frequently that originally thought (Switzer et al. 2004 and references therein). SFV-1, however, does not show in vitro cytopathology and apparent pathogenic effects have not been reported in infected individuals (Mergia et al. 1997). The genomic structure of SFV-1 is 13 Kb in size including LTRs of 1.6 Kb. The internal region of this retrovirus displays a Primer Binding Site (PBS) complementary to a tRNALys1-2, Open Reading Frames (ORFs) for gag, pol and env genes characteristic of retroviruses, accessory genes bel1 and bel2, and a Polypurine Tract (PPT) adjacent to the 3´LTR (Kupiec et al. 1991; Flügel 1991). As described by Muranyi and Flügel (1991) in human Spumaretrovirus, a chimeric protein termed Bet (or bel3) has also been observed in SFV-1; it derives from splicing of the N-terminal amino acids of bel1 in frame with the bulk of the bel2. Structure Figure not to scale. If present, long terminal repeats (LTRs) have been highlighted in blue. Amino acid motifs noted with lines indicate the conserved residues in each protein domain, abbreviations below mean: MA=matrix PR=protease DU or DUT=dUTPase TM=transmembrane TAV or IBMP=transactivator/viroplasmin or inclusion body matrix protein CA=capsid RT=reverse transcriptase INT=Integrase CHR=chromodomain NC=nucleocapsid RH=RNaseH SU=surface MOV=movement protein PPT=polypurine tract PBS=primer binding site ATF=aphid transmission factor VAP=virion associated protein Related literature Retroviruses. (Coffin, Hugges and Varmus 1997)

Genbank accession: X54482 Clade: Undetermined Cluster or genus: Spumaretrovirus Branch or class: Class 3 Family: Retroviridae System: LTR retroelements Host: Explore the Tree Life Project Primates sp. Image, Joaquin Panadero, Copyright, GyDB, Biotech Vana Browse all elements