Parvovirus-Derived Endogenous Viral Elements in Two South American Rodent Genomes

Abstract

We describe endogenous viral elements (EVEs) derived from parvoviruses (family Parvoviridae ) in the genomes of the long-tailed chinchilla ( Chinchilla lanigera ) and the degu ( Octodon degus ). The novel EVEs include dependovirus-related elements and representatives of a clearly distinct parvovirus lineage that also has endogenous representatives in marsupial genomes. In the degu, one dependovirus-derived EVE was found to carry an intact reading frame and was differentially expressed in vivo , with increased expression in the liver.