Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Nov;18(11):661-670.
doi: 10.1038/s41579-020-0408-x. Epub 2020 Jul 14.

The LUCA and its complex virome

Mart Krupovic  1 , Valerian V Dolja  2 , Eugene V Koonin  3
Affiliations
Free article
Review

The LUCA and its complex virome

Mart Krupovic et al. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2020 Nov.
Free article

Abstract

The last universal cellular ancestor (LUCA) is the most recent population of organisms from which all cellular life on Earth descends. The reconstruction of the genome and phenotype of the LUCA is a major challenge in evolutionary biology. Given that all life forms are associated with viruses and/or other mobile genetic elements, there is no doubt that the LUCA was a host to viruses. Here, by projecting back in time using the extant distribution of viruses across the two primary domains of life, bacteria and archaea, and tracing the evolutionary histories of some key virus genes, we attempt a reconstruction of the LUCA virome. Even a conservative version of this reconstruction suggests a remarkably complex virome that already included the main groups of extant viruses of bacteria and archaea. We further present evidence of extensive virus evolution antedating the LUCA. The presence of a highly complex virome implies the substantial genomic and pan-genomic complexity of the LUCA itself.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Forterre, P. & Prangishvili, D. The great billion-year war between ribosome- and capsid-encoding organisms (cells and viruses) as the major source of evolutionary novelties. Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 1178, 65–77 (2009). - PubMed
    1. Koonin, E. V., Senkevich, T. G. & Dolja, V. V. The ancient virus world and evolution of cells. Biol. Direct 1, 29 (2006). - PubMed - PMC
    1. Moreira, D. & Lopez-Garcia, P. Ten reasons to exclude viruses from the tree of life. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 7, 306–311 (2009). - PubMed
    1. Koonin, E. V. & Dolja, V. V. A virocentric perspective on the evolution of life. Curr. Opin. Virol. 3, 546–557 (2013). - PubMed - PMC
    1. Raoult, D. & Forterre, P. Redefining viruses: lessons from Mimivirus. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 6, 315–319 (2008). - PubMed

Publication types