The Evolutionary Biology of Poxviruses

Overview

Journal Infect Genet Evol

Specialties Biology
Genetics
Infectious Diseases

Date 2009 Oct 17

PMID 19833230

Citations 70

Authors

Austin L Hughes

Stephanie Irausquin

Robert Friedman

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The poxviruses (family Poxviridae) are a family of double-stranded viruses including several species that infect humans and their domestic animals, most notably Variola virus (VARV), the causative agent of smallpox. The evolutionary biology of these viruses poses numerous questions, for which we have only partial answers at present. Here we review evidence regarding the origin of poxviruses, the frequency of host transfer in poxvirus history, horizontal transfer of host genes to poxviruses, and the population processes accounting for patterns of nucleotide sequence polymorphism.

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