Fossil of Virus Demonstrates Extinction of HIV Type Virus 11 Million Years Ago

A defense mechanism against retrovirus, using the virus's own gene against itself, was the reason behind the extinction of HIV.

Highlights

Retroviral fossils left by human endogenous retrovirus T (HERV-T) replicated in our primate ancestors and were eradicated about 11 million years ago. //
The genetic material is of retrovirus integrate into the genome of their host – creating a genetic fossil record that can be preserved.
Viruses themselves can provide the genetic material that animals use to combat them, sometimes leading to viral extinction.

DNA fossils of our ancestors showed that they may have eliminated a primordial HIV type virus around 11 million years ago.

Retroviruses, a class of viruses that includes the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), are abundant in nature and can leave lasting traces of their existence if they infect cells of the germ line.

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‘Human endogenous retrovirus T (HERV-T) used a cell- surface protein called MCT-1 to bind to cells and infect ancient old-world primates.’

Unlike other viruses, they include a step in their life cycle where their genetic material is integrated into the genome of their host – creating a genetic fossil record that can be preserved in the genomes of the host and its evolutionary descendants.

Defense Mechanism

The team of researchers from The Rockefeller University in the US reason that it was due to an evolved a defense mechanism, which helped our primate ancestors manipulate the function of one of the virus's genes, turning the virus against itself.

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"Analysing viral fossils can provide a wealth of insight into events that occurred in the distant past," said Paul Bieniasz, from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in the US.

"This study is an example of how viruses themselves can provide the genetic material that animals use to combat them, sometimes leading to viral extinction," said Bieniasz.

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Researchers analysed retroviral fossils left by human endogenous retrovirus T (HERV-T), to examine how extinct viral lineages could once have been eliminated, which replicated in our primate ancestors for about 25 million years before it was eradicated about 11 million years ago.

HERV-T fossils

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Working with Robert Gifford from the University of Glasgow in the UK, the team first compiled a near-complete catalogue of HERV-T fossils in old-world monkey and ape genomes.

They then reconstructed the HERV-T retrovirus' outer envelope protein - a molecule that allows a virus particle to bind to cells and begin the viral replication cycle.

"Our analyses suggested that HERV-T likely used a cell- surface protein called MCT-1 to bind to cells and infect ancient old-world primates," said Daniel Blanco-Melo, a former graduate student in the Bieniasz lab.

The researches also identified a fossilised HERV-T gene in the genomes of contemporary humans that was absent in more distantly-related primate genomes.

They found that this gene encodes a well-preserved envelope protein that can block retroviral infection by depleting MCT-1 from cell surfaces.

"It appears this gene was integrated into the ancestral primate genome around 13 to 19 million years ago, and we believe it was around this time that the function of this gene switched," said Blanco-Melo.

"Ancestral hominids evolved a defence mechanism against HERV-T, using the virus's own gene against itself, eventually leading to its extinction," Blanco-Melo added.

Source-Medindia