TITLE:
Genetic Diversity of the Papillomaviridae Family Using Reference Genomes
AUTHORS:
Rebeca T. O. Loureiro, Michele F. A. Souza, Paulo F. C. Magalhães-Junior, Suanni L. Andrade, Rudi E. L. Procópio
KEYWORDS:
Papilomavirus, Tumors, Neoplasia, Carcinoma, Oncology
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Biosciences and Medicines,
Vol.13 No.7,
July
17,
2025
ABSTRACT: Papillomaviruses have the ability to induce infected squamous epithelial cells to form tumors, some of which can progress to malignancies. They are circular double-stranded DNA viruses with approximately 8kbp. The papillomavirus genome consists of a long control region (LCR), early coding regions (E1, E2, E4, E5, E6, and E7), and late coding regions (L1 and L2). We used 112 genomic DNA, all of papillomavirus sequences from the NCBI (RefSeq) and listed in the PaVE, comprising 47 human-infecting reference sequences and 65 animal-infecting reference sequences. The main papillomaviruses that infect humans, showed differences in the size of the proteins encoded by the viral genome. For human-infecting papillomaviruses, there was no significant difference between the phylogeny constructed with the E and L regions, compared to the tree constructed with the entire genome. For all genera of the Papillomaviridae family, Betapapillomavirus genera that infect humans were placed between Chipapillomavirus and Taupapillomavirus, in the phylogenetic tree using the entire genome, and showed similarity with Betapapillomaviruses infecting Colobus guereza, which is a species of primate. Human-infecting Alphapapillomaviruses was the most distinct specie among Alphapapillomaviruses, while Gammapapillomaviruses were more closely related to Pipapillomaviruses infecting Mastomys coucha, Micromys minutus, and Mus musculus, which are small rodents.