Woolly monkey sarcoma virus
Species of virus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Woolly monkey sarcoma virus (WMSV), with synonym Simian sarcoma virus (often abbreviated by SSV, but this may also stand for some species called Sulfolobus spindle-shaped virus, that belong to different genera in family Fuselloviridae) is a species of gammaretrovirus that infects primates. First isolation was from a fibrosarcoma in a woolly monkey (Legothrix lagothrica). For its reproduction the virus needs a helper or associated virus which is called Simian sarcoma associated virus (SSAV),[1][2][3] also known as woolly monkey virus (WMV).[4]
| Woolly monkey sarcoma virus | |
|---|---|
Virus classification  | |
| (unranked): | Virus |
| Realm: | Riboviria |
| Kingdom: | Pararnavirae |
| Phylum: | Artverviricota |
| Class: | Revtraviricetes |
| Order: | Ortervirales |
| Family: | Retroviridae |
| Genus: | Gammaretrovirus |
| Species: | Gammaretrovirus woomonsar |
The WMSV/SSV genome is nearly identical to the WMV/SSAV genome, except the part corresponding to the env gene on the WMV/SSAV genome[5] is replaced by an oncogene called p28/v-sis. The lack of an env renders it reliant on the SSAV for reproduction while the presence of the oncogene makes it sarcoma-causing. v-sis is derived from a primate[6] PDGFB (c-sis) gene that the ancestral WMSV/SSV had picked up instead of its own env gene.[7]
Simian sarcoma associated virus
WMV/SSAV is its own independently-replicating retrovirus. It is usually lumped into the same species as the gibbon ape leukemia virus (GALV). It was originally detected in woolly monkeys co-housed in the same cage as gibbons, so the detection may have been due to a gibbon-to-monkey transmission rather than indicating the true natural host of the virus.[4] Cladistically, the WMV/SSAV branch of the GALV-WMV clade also includes many rodent virues, including the Melomys burtoni retrovirus (MbRV), melomys woolly monkey retrovirus (MelWMV), and complete melomys woolly monkey retrovirus (cMWMV). cMWMV is a complete endogenous retrovirus found in some populations of Melomys leucogaster, still very capable of producing infectious virions, in contrast to earlier Melomys-harbored relatives which were incomplete.[4]
