• Angedakin, Samuel
• Fruth, Barbara
• Wessling, Erin G.
• Jones, Sorrel
• Yuh, Yisa Ginath
• Madinda, Nadege F.
• Hostager, Reilly
• Merkel, Kevin
• Ormsby, Lucy Jayne
• Babweteera, Fred
• Dieguez, Paula
• Sommer, Volker
• Lee, Kevin
• Brun-Jeffery, Kathryn J.
• Langergraber, Kevin E.
• Arandjelovic, Mimi
• Calvignac-Spencer, Sebastien
• Stoinski, Tara
• Herbinger, Ilka
• Wittig, Roman M.
• Kuehl, Hjalmar
• Leendertz, Fabian H.
• Wertheim, Joel O.
• Metzger, Sonja
• Ryu, Diane
• Ayimisin, Emmanuel Ayuk
• Robbins, Martha M.
• Eckardt, Winnie
• Bessone, Mattia

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>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 cross-species 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 experienced multiple cross-species transmission events over the past 3 My, the most recent of which occurred between humans and bonobos around 1 Ma. These findings revise our understanding of the origins of human herpes simplexviruses and suggest that HSV-2 is one of the earliest zoonotic pathogens.</jats:p>

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy