OVRE1: O Vaginal Retrovirus‑like Element 1 – genomic assembly and annotations

Discovery of OVRE1 In a vaginal metagenomic dataset from a human subject, we identified a previously uncharacterized retrovirus-like mobile genetic element, which we provisionally name (OVRE1). OVRE1 is encoded on a small set of contigs that together harbor a Pol-like open reading frame with strong similarity to endonuclease/reverse transcriptase proteins, an Env-like glycoprotein, and several short accessory ORFs. The domain architecture, including Exo_endo_phos and Exo_endo_phos_2 motifs in the Pol-like ORF, indicates that OVRE1 belongs to a divergent lineage of retrotransposon-like elements rather than to any currently classified viral family. Phylogenetic analysis of the reverse transcriptase region further supports the placement of OVRE1 within a distinct clade of retrovirus-like mobile genetic elements with no close, fully characterized relatives in existing databases. Collectively, these observations justify proposing OVRE1 as a novel retrovirus-like element associated with the human vaginal microbiome and provide a foundation for future studies on its biology, evolution, and potential impact on host-associated microbial communities.