Do Viruses Exchange Genes across Superkingdoms of Life?

Malik, Shahana S.; Azem-e-Zahra, Syeda; Kim, Kyung Mo; Caetano-Anollés, Gustavo; Nasir, Arshan

Finally, the BE Venn group for archaeoviruses, the AE group for bacterioviruses, and the AB group for eukaryoviruses may also represent genetic exchanges occurring between viruses and non-host superkingdoms. For archaeoviruses, the d.285.1 (DNAbinding domain of intron-encoded endonucleases), a.118.25 (TROVE domain-like), and b.22.1 (TNF-like) FSFs were detected in the BE group. In turn, only one bacterioviral FSF (d.282.1, SSo0622-like) was detected in the AE group and 2 eukaryoviral FSFs were detected in the AB group (a.18.1, T4 endonuclease V and g.90.1, E6 C-terminal domain-like) (highlighted in Tables S2-S4). These FSFs are likely candidates of genetic transfer occurring between viruses and non-host superkingdoms, more likely in the cell-to-virus direction because of the "cell-like" nature of these FSFs.