Discovery of Novel Herpes Simplexviruses in Wild Gorillas, Bonobos, and Chimpanzees Supports Zoonotic Origin of HSV-2
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Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Molecular biology and evolution
Abstract
Viruses closely related to human pathogens can reveal the origins of human infectious diseases. Human herpes simplexvirus
type 1 (HSV-1) and type 2 (HSV-2) are hypothesized to have arisen via host-virus codivergence and crossspecies
transmission. We report the discovery of novel herpes simplexviruses during a large-scale screening of fecal
samples from wild gorillas, bonobos, and chimpanzees. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that, contrary to expectation,
simplexviruses from these African apes are all more closely related to HSV-2 than to HSV-1. Molecular clock-based
hypothesis testing suggests the divergence between HSV-1 and the African great ape simplexviruses likely represents a
codivergence event between humans and gorillas. The simplexviruses infecting African great apes subsequently experiencedmultiple
cross-species transmission events over the past 3My, the most recent of which occurred between humans
and bonobos around 1Ma. These findings revise our understanding of the origins of human herpes simplexviruses and
suggest that HSV-2 is one of the earliest zoonotic pathogens.
Description
Keywords
phylogenetics, Zoonosis, Herpesvirus, Molecular clock, Ape
Citation
Wertheim, J. O., Hostager, R., Ryu, D., Merkel, K., Angedakin, S., Arandjelovic, M., ... & Calvignac-Spencer, S. (2021). Discovery of novel herpes simplexviruses in wild gorillas, bonobos, and chimpanzees supports zoonotic origin of HSV-2. Molecular biology and evolution, 38(7), 2818-2830. doi:10.1093/molbev/msab072