PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - R.E Tarlinton
AU  - N. Sarker
AU  - J. Fabijan
AU  - T. Dottorini
AU  - L. Woolford
AU  - J. Meers
AU  - G. Simmons
AU  - H. Owen
AU  - J.M. Seddon
AU  - F. Hemmatzedah
AU  - D. Trott
AU  - N. Speight
AU  - R.D. Emes
TI  - Differential and defective expression of Koala Retrovirus reveal complexity of host and virus evolution
AID  - 10.1101/211466
DP  - 2017 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 211466
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/11/09/211466.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/11/09/211466.full
AB  - Koala retrovirus (KoRV) is unique amongst endogenous (inherited) retroviruses in that its incorporation to the host genome is still active, providing an opportunity to study what drives this fundamental process in vertebrate genome evolution. RNA sequencing of KoRV from koala populations with high virus burden (Queensland) and low virus burden (South Australia) identified that South Australian animals, a population previously thought to have KoRV negative animals, harboured replication defective KoRV. This discovery provides the first evidence that a host population may maintain defective KoRV as protection from the infectious form of KoRV. This offers the intriguing prospect of being able to monitor and selectively breed for disease resistance to protect other wild koala populations from KoRV induced disease.