A Recent Gibbon Ape Leukemia Virus Germline Integrations in a Rodent from New Guinea

We identified two rodents from Australia (Melomys burtoni) and Papua New Guinea (M. leucogaster) harboring Gibbon Ape Leukemia Virus - like (GALV-like) retrovirus. M. leucogaster harbored a genomically complete gammaretrovirus with a shared integration site among individuals (isolates 249, 290, 291, 292 and 300). We named this cMWMV (complete Melomys Woolly Monkey Virus). However this integration was only present in some individuals of the species indicating this retrovirus is at the earliest stages of germline colonization of the Melomys genome, providing a new model of early stage genome colonization. The M. burtoni sequence (isolate 204) obtained is not cMWMV but a related retrovirus like the defective M. burtoni viruses MbRV and MelWMV. We termed this MelWMV variant MelWMV-NG (MelWMV New Guinea).