Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 20, 2026

Brown greater galago prosimian foamy virus

Prosimiispumavirus otocra (PSFVgal), the Brown greater galago prosimian foamy virus or simian foamy virus Otolemur crassicaudatus, is a retrovirus and the sole species in the genus Prosimiispumavirus, belonging to the subfamily Spumaretrovirinae of the family Retroviridae. Its natural host is the brown greater galago (Otolemur crassicaudatus), a strepsirrhine primate from southern Africa, from which the species epithet otocra is derived. It is the only known exogenous foamy virus with a prosimian host, altough traces of ancient foamy viruses have been found in the genomes of other prosimians as endogenous foamy viruses

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Jul 20, 2026
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Prosimiispumavirus otocra
A brown greater galago
Virus classification Edit this classification
(unranked): Virus
Realm: Riboviria
Kingdom: Pararnavirae
Phylum: Artverviricota
Class: Revtraviricetes
Order: Ortervirales
Family: Retroviridae
Subfamily: Spumaretrovirinae
Genus: Prosimiispumavirus
Species:
Prosimiispumavirus otocra

Prosimiispumavirus otocra (PSFVgal), the Brown greater galago prosimian foamy virus or simian foamy virus Otolemur crassicaudatus, is a retrovirus and the sole species in the genus Prosimiispumavirus, belonging to the subfamily Spumaretrovirinae of the family Retroviridae.12 Its natural host is the brown greater galago (Otolemur crassicaudatus), a strepsirrhine primate from southern Africa, from which the species epithet otocra is derived. It is the only known exogenous foamy virus with a prosimian host, altough traces of ancient foamy viruses have been found in the genomes of other prosimians as endogenous foamy viruses34

Taxonomy

The complete genome of P. otocrawas reported in 2014 after being isolated from a galago.4 In 2017, the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses reorganized the former single genus Spumavirus into five host-range-reflecting genera, adopting the Prosimiispumavirus genus to accommodate this species.52

Phylogenetic analysis places P. otocra as a sister lineage to the simian foamy viruses (Simiispumavirus genus), consistent with the evolutionary split between prosimians and simians.4 The transmission patterns of foamy virus diversification mirrors that of their mammalian hosts, supporting long-term cospeciation rather than recent host switching.61

Structure

Similar to other members of the subfamily Spumaretrovirinae, Prosimiispumavirus otocra has a genome length of 12,118 nucleotides, organized into a foamy virus structure with long terminal repeats flanking the gag, pol, and env genes, along with accessory genes bel1 (tas) and bel2 (bet).4 No in-frame stop codons are present in the coding regions. Virions share the general spumaviral morphology.7

See also

See also

References

References

  1. "Genus: Prosimiispumavirus". International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  2. Mayer, Jens; et al. (2025). "2024 taxonomy update for the family Retroviridae". Archives of Virology. 170 (8) 164. doi:10.1007/s00705-025-06353-y. PMC 12370174. PMID 40576840.
  3. Han, Guan-Zhu; Worobey, Michael (2012). "An Endogenous Foamy Virus in the Aye-Aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis)". Journal of Virology. 86 (14): 7696–7698. doi:10.1128/JVI.00650-12. PMC 3416287. PMID 22573860.
  4. Katzourakis, Aris; Aiewsakun, Pakorn; Jia, Hongwei; Wolfe, Nathan D.; LeBreton, Matthew; Yoder, Anne D.; Switzer, William M. (2014). "Discovery of prosimian and afrotherian foamy viruses and potential cross species transmissions amidst stable and ancient mammalian co-evolution". Retrovirology. 11 61. doi:10.1186/1742-4690-11-61. PMC 4261875. PMID 25091111.
  5. Khan, Adeeba S.; et al. (2018). "Spumaretroviruses: Updated taxonomy and nomenclature". Virology. 516: 158–164. doi:10.1016/j.virol.2018.01.005. PMC 5840510. PMID 29331866.
  6. Switzer, William M.; et al. (2005). "Ancient co-speciation of simian foamy viruses and primates". Nature. 434 (7031): 376–380. Bibcode:2005Natur.434..376S. doi:10.1038/nature03341. PMID 15772660.
  7. "Subfamily: Spumaretrovirinae". International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
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