Discovery of Two Novel in Provides Insights on Diversification Dynamics

The development of high-throughput sequencing (HTS) technologies and metagenomics protocols deeply impacted the discovery of viral diversity. Moreover, the characterization of novel viruses in the Neotropical primates (NP) is central for the comprehension of viral evolution dynamics in those hosts, due to their evolutionary proximity to Old World primates, including humans. In the present work, novel anelloviruses were detected and characterized through HTS protocols in the NP , the common black-tufted marmoset. assembly of generated sequences was carried out, and a total of 15 contigs were identified with complete Anelloviridae ORF1 gene, two of them including a flanking GC-rich region, confirming the presence of two whole novel genomes of ~3 kb. The identified viruses were monophyletic within the Epsilontorquevirus genus, a lineage harboring previously reported anelloviruses infecting hosts from the Cebidae family. The genetic divergence found in the new viruses characterized two novel species, named and . The phylogenetic pattern inferred for the genus was consistent with the topology of their host species tree, echoing a virus-host diversification model observed in other viral groups. This study expands the host span of and provides insights into their diversification dynamics, highlighting the importance of sampling animal viral genomes to obtain a clearer depiction of their long-term evolutionary processes.