The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of Lentivirus that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive. Without treatment, the average survival time after infection with HIV is estimated to be 9 to 11 years, depending on the HIV subtype.
A retrovirus is a type of virus that inserts a DNA copy of its RNA genome into the DNA of a host cell that it invades, thus changing the genome of that cell. After invading a host cell's cytoplasm, the virus uses its own reverse transcriptase enzyme to produce DNA from its RNA genome, the reverse of the usual pattern, thus retro (backward). The new DNA is then incorporated into the host cell genome by an integrase enzyme, at which point the retroviral DNA is referred to as a provirus. The host cell then treats the viral DNA as part of its own genome, transcribing and translating the viral genes along with the cell's own genes, producing the proteins required to assemble new copies of the virus. Many retroviruses cause serious diseases in humans, other mammals, and birds.
Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) is a species of retrovirus that cause persistent infections in at least 45 species of non-human primates. Based on analysis of strains found in four species of monkeys from Bioko Island, which was isolated from the mainland by rising sea levels about 11,000 years ago, it has been concluded that SIV has been present in monkeys and apes for at least 32,000 years, and probably much longer.
Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) is a Lentivirus that affects cats worldwide, with 2.5% to 4.4% of felines being infected.
Feline leukemia virus (FeLV) is a retrovirus that infects cats. FeLV can be transmitted from infected cats when the transfer of saliva or nasal secretions is involved. If not defeated by the animal's immune system, the virus weakens the cat's immune system, which can lead to diseases which can be lethal. Because FeLV is cat-to-cat contagious, FeLV+ cats should only live with other FeLV+ cats.
Lentivirus is a genus of retroviruses that cause chronic and deadly diseases characterized by long incubation periods, in humans and other mammalian species. The genus includes the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS. Lentiviruses are distributed worldwide, and are known to be hosted in apes, cows, goats, horses, cats, and sheep as well as several other mammals.
Gammaretrovirus is a genus in the Retroviridae family. Example species are the murine leukemia virus and the feline leukemia virus. They cause various sarcomas, leukemias and immune deficiencies in mammals, reptiles and birds.
Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are endogenous viral elements in the genome that closely resemble and can be derived from retroviruses. They are abundant in the genomes of jawed vertebrates, and they comprise up to 5–8% of the human genome.
The genome and proteins of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) have been the subject of extensive research since the discovery of the virus in 1983. "In the search for the causative agent, it was initially believed that the virus was a form of the Human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV), which was known at the time to affect the human immune system and cause certain leukemias. However, researchers at the Pasteur Institute in Paris isolated a previously unknown and genetically distinct retrovirus in patients with AIDS which was later named HIV." Each virion comprises a viral envelope and associated matrix enclosing a capsid, which itself encloses two copies of the single-stranded RNA genome and several enzymes. The discovery of the virus itself occurred two years following the report of the first major cases of AIDS-associated illnesses.
Jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus (JSRV) is a betaretrovirus which is the causative agent of a contagious lung cancer in sheep, called ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma.
Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) is a retrovirus and is the first oncovirus to have been described. It causes sarcoma in chickens.
The murine leukemia viruses are retroviruses named for their ability to cause cancer in murine (mouse) hosts. Some MLVs may infect other vertebrates. MLVs include both exogenous and endogenous viruses. Replicating MLVs have a positive sense, single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) genome that replicates through a DNA intermediate via the process of reverse transcription.
APOBEC3G is a human enzyme encoded by the APOBEC3G gene that belongs to the APOBEC superfamily of proteins. This family of proteins has been suggested to play an important role in innate anti-viral immunity. APOBEC3G belongs to the family of cytidine deaminases that catalyze the deamination of cytidine to uridine in the single stranded DNA substrate. The C-terminal domain of A3G renders catalytic activity, several NMR and crystal structures explain the substrate specificity and catalytic activity.
Simian foamy virus (SFV), historically Human foamy virus (HFV), is a species of the genus Spumavirus that belongs to the family of Retroviridae. It has been identified in a wide variety of primates, including prosimians, New World and Old World monkeys, as well as apes, and each species has been shown to harbor a unique (species-specific) strain of SFV, including African green monkeys, baboons, macaques, and chimpanzees. As it is related to the more well-known retrovirus human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), its discovery in primates has led to some speculation that HIV may have been spread to the human species in Africa through contact with blood from apes, monkeys, and other primates, most likely through bushmeat-hunting practices.
Visna-maedi virus from the genus Lentivirus and subfamily Orthoretrovirinae, is a retrovirus that causes encephalitis and chronic pneumonitis in sheep. It is known as visna when found in the brain, and maedi when infecting the lungs. Lifelong, persistent infections in sheep occur in the lungs, lymph nodes, spleen, joints, central nervous system, and mammary glands; The condition is sometimes known as ovine progressive pneumonia (OPP), particularly in the United States, or Montana sheep disease. White blood cells of the monocyte/macrophage lineage are the main target of the virus.
Bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV) is a retrovirus belonging to the genus Lentivirus. It is similar to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and infects cattle. The cells primarily infected are lymphocytes and monocytes/macrophages.
Mason-Pfizer monkey virus (M-PMV), formerly Simian retrovirus (SRV), is a species of retroviruses that usually infect and cause a fatal immune deficiency in Asian macaques. The ssRNA virus appears sporadically in mammary carcinoma of captive macaques at breeding facilities which expected as the natural host, but the prevalence of this virus in feral macaques remains unknown. M-PMV was transmitted naturally by virus-containing body fluids, via biting, scratching, grooming, and fighting. Cross contaminated instruments or equipment (fomite) can also spread this virus among animals.
Bovine foamy virus (BFV) is a ss(+)RNA retrovirus that belongs to the genus spumaviridae. Spumaviruses differ from the other six members of family retroviridae, both structurally and in pathogenic nature. Spumaviruses derive their name from spuma the latin for "foam". The 'foam' aspect of 'foamy virus' comes from syncytium formation and the rapid vacuolization of infected cells, creating a 'foamy' appearance.
Equine foamy virus (EFV), also called foamy virus (FV), is virus in the genus Equispumavirus. It shares similarities, with respect to replication, with lentiviruses. EFV, along with other FVs are from the family Retroviridae and subfamily Spumaretrovirinae. Spumarivuses, such as EFV, are complicated retroviruses that have been characterized in many animals including nonhuman primates, cattle, cats. Additionally, these viruses have been identified in animals that most often carry lentiviruses.
Gibbon-ape leukemia virus (GaLV) is an oncogenic, type C retrovirus that has been isolated from primate neoplasms, including the white-handed gibbon and woolly monkey. The virus was identified as the etiological agent of hematopoietic neoplasms, leukemias, and immune deficiencies within gibbons in 1971, during the epidemic of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Epidemiological research into the origins of GaLV has developed two hypotheses for the virus' emergence. These include cross-species transmission of the retrovirus present within a species of East Asian rodent or bat, and the inoculation or blood transfusion of a MbRV-related virus into captured gibbons populations housed at medical research institutions. The virus was subsequently identified in captive gibbon populations in Thailand, the US and Bermuda.
