Sequencing and assembly of the genomes of GALV-like viruses from Southeast Asian rodent species. Gibbon ape leukemia virus

Gibbon ape leukemia virus (GALV) and koala retrovirus (KoRV) most likely originated from a cross-species transmission of an ancestral retrovirus into koalas and gibbons via one or more intermediate as yet unknown hosts. We screened 26 Southeast Asian rodent species for KoRV- and GALV-like sequences, using hybridization capture and high-throughput sequencing, in the attempt to identify potential GALV and KoRV hosts. Only one species, an undescribed species of Melomys from Indonesia, was positive yielding an endogenous provirus very closely related to a strain of GALV.