Comparative analysis estimates the relative frequencies of co-divergence and cross-species transmission within viral families

Geoghegan, Jemma L.; Duchêne, Sebastián; Holmes, Edward C.

A phylogenetic measure of the relative frequency of virus-host codivergence Our analysis considered a total of seven DNA and 12 RNA virus data sets that provided sufficient data to perform a quantitative co-phylogenetic analysis. Hence, the study relied heavily on specific selection criteria (see Materials and methods) that necessarily limited data availability. Despite these rigorous criteria, the majority of data sets encompassed a diverse collection of viruses and host species, and hence can be regarded as illustrative of the broad-scale frequency of co-divergence versus cross-species transmission. These data contained no evidence for recombination.