Virus in bats homologous to retroviruses in rodents and primates

Scientists discovered a new retrovirus "fossil" found in the common vampire bat which is homologous to retroviruses in rodents and primates. The results suggest the recent circulation of an active infectious retrovirus and ...

Tracking koala disease: New findings from old DNA

(Phys.org)—DNA extracted from the skins of koalas displayed in European and North American museums shows that a retrovirus has been a problem for the animals for much longer than was thought, according to Alfred Roca, an ...

Koala study reveals clues about origins of the human genome

Eight percent of your genome derives from retroviruses that inserted themselves into human sex cells millions of years ago. Right now the koala retrovirus (KoRV) is invading koala genomes, a process that can help us understand ...

Viruses in the genome important for our brain

Over millions of years, retroviruses have been incorporated into human DNA, where they today make up almost 10 per cent of the total genome. A research group at Lund University in Sweden has now discovered a mechanism through ...

New inherited retroviruses identified in the koala genome

Historic virus infections can be traced in vertebrate genomes. For millions of years, these genomes have been repositories for retroviruses that incorporated their code into germline cells and were inherited as endogenous ...

Koalas exposed to double-whammy health threat

An AIDS-like virus plaguing Australia's koala population is leaving them more vulnerable to chlamydia and other threatening health conditions, University of Queensland research has found.

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