Vavilovskii Zhurnal Genetiki i Selektsii最新文献

{"title":"Evolution of gene order in mtDNA of Baikal endemic amphipods and its possible mechanisms.","authors":"E A Sirotinina, D Yu Sherbakov, E V Romanova","doi":"10.18699/vjgb-26-15","DOIUrl":"10.18699/vjgb-26-15","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Significant gene order diversity of mitochondrial (mt) genomes of invertebrates is peculiar to subphylum Crustacea, and to order Amphipoda in particular. Amphipods from Lake Baikal are also known as a group with unique gene orders in their mt genomes. To estimate the diversity of protein-coding gene orders (GOs) in amphipods, a comparative analysis of gene rearrangements in the mt genomes of Baikal and non-Baikal species was performed. In some cases, gene rearrangement data and the history of gene relocation in different taxonomic groups can also supplement the results of phylogenetic inferences. Among the thirteen mt genomes of Baikal species sequenced in previous studies, four gene order patterns were identified, and fourteen gene order patterns for 114 mt genomes of non-Baikal species were observed. The type and number of rearrangement steps (from 1 to 3) required to transition from one order to another and the number of mt genes rearranged in each GO (from 1 to 5) were also defined. Baikalian amphipods belong to two lineages (I and II) according to molecular data which reveal their origin from two independent introductions of ancestral species into the lake. All cases of mt gene order rearrangements have been detected in species from the first lineage, whereas the mt gene order in the second lineage is conserved in all species studied and corresponds to the Pancrustacean pattern (PanGO). PanGO has been determined as the ancestral gene order for both Baikalian amphipod lineages. The possible mechanisms of mt gene order rearrangements such as a complete or partial duplication of mt genome and subsequent random deletions are discussed in our study. It is supposed that increased mutation rate, weakening of stabilizing selection and other specific factors may influence the probability of emergence and fixation of different GOs in mt genomes of Baikalian amphipods.</p>","PeriodicalId":44339,"journal":{"name":"Vavilovskii Zhurnal Genetiki i Selektsii","volume":"30 1","pages":"136-145"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13061750/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147677474","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Morphological and molecular genetic analysis of the genus Iris L. polymorphism in the Republic of Bashkortostan and the Orenburg Region.","authors":"E A Aukhadieva, A G Blinov, E I Vshivtseva, Z Kh Shigapov, A R Ishbirdin, Ya M Golovanov, A V Kryukova","doi":"10.18699/vjgb-26-16","DOIUrl":"10.18699/vjgb-26-16","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Iris is a cosmopolitan genus comprising 200 to 340 species distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Although Iris is the most diverse group in the family Iridaceae, there are many uncertainties regarding its taxonomic composition and systematics. The aim of this study was to search for taxonomically significant morphological characters of the generative and vegetative spheres and molecular markers with subsequent assessment of their informativeness in identifying phylogenetic relationships and compliance with the most relevant modern classification systems of the genus Iris. As a result of constructing the structure of variability of morphometric parameters of 11 species, 10 taxonomic indicators were identified that were common to the analyzed taxa and were characterized by relatively low total and coordinated variability: length and width of the outer perianth lobes, length and width of the inner perianth lobes, length of the filament, anther and pistil, fruit width, as well as seed length and width. Nucleotide sequences of trnL-trnF fragments of chloroplast DNA were established for 13 samples of four species of wild flora of the Republic of Bashkortostan and the Orenburg Region: Iris pumila L., I. scariosa Willd. ex Link., I. pseudacorus L., I. sibirica L. The obtained sequences were used to construct a phylogenetic tree together with trnL-trnF sequences of seven more iris species extracted from the database. The tree contained five clusters: (1) I. pumila, I. scariosa; (2) I. pseudacorus, I. setosa Pall. ex Link; (3) I. lactea Pall.; (4) I. sibirica, I. sanguinea Hornem.; (5) I. spuria L., I. xanthospuria Mathew & Baytop., I. foetidissima L., I. sintenisii Janka. By the composition of their species, the identified clusters almost completely coincided with the clusters found during the morphological analysis. To confirm the obtained results, a phylogenetic analysis of the species of interest was performed on two more chloroplast sequences available in the database: matK and trnS-trnG. Clustering of the studied species on trnS-trnG and matK completely coincided with clustering on trnL-trnF. Thus, we can state that the morphological features identified for the Iris generic complex work in the taxonomic direction. The analysis also showed that I. scariosa from natural populations of the Republic of Bashkortostan and the Orenburg Region were identified correctly.</p>","PeriodicalId":44339,"journal":{"name":"Vavilovskii Zhurnal Genetiki i Selektsii","volume":"30 1","pages":"146-156"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13066653/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147677532","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Wheat spikelet detection on RGB images using deep machine learning.","authors":"M A Genaev, I D Busov, Yu V Kruchinina, V S Kova, N P Goncharov","doi":"10.18699/vjgb-26-09","DOIUrl":"10.18699/vjgb-26-09","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study addresses the challenge of automated high-throughput phenotyping of wheat spike characteristics using modern computer vision and deep learning methods. Accurate estimation of spikelet number is a key indicator of plant productivity, yet traditional manual counting approaches are labor-intensive, slow, and difficult to scale to large breeding datasets. To overcome these limitations, we propose a spikelet detection strategy based on simplified point annotations, where an expert marks only the centers of spikelets rather than drawing detailed segmentation masks or bounding boxes. This significantly reduces annotation time and lowers the overall cost of preparing training datasets for machine learning models. To determine the most effective way of utilizing such simplified annotations, three computational methods were explored: segmentation of binary masks using a U-Net architecture, density regression based on two-dimensional Gaussian distributions optimized via Kullback-Leibler divergence, and detection of fixed-size bounding regions using the YOLOv8 object detection framework. The models were evaluated on dedicated test datasets using both quantitative metrics (MAE, MAPE) and spatial localization metrics (Precision, Recall, F1 score). The results demonstrate that U-Net-based approaches provide consistently high accuracy in spikelet localization and counting while maintaining robustness to annotation imperfections. In contrast, the YOLOv8-based method showed reduced performance, likely due to the geometric mismatch between fixed-size boxes and the natural elongated shape of spikelets. Overall, the proposed methodology highlights the effectiveness of combining minimalistic point-level annotation with advanced segmentation models for automating phenotyping workflows. This approach has the potential to accelerate breeding programs, enhance the efficiency of large-scale phenotypic data collection, and support further development of robust computer-vision tools for plant science applications.</p>","PeriodicalId":44339,"journal":{"name":"Vavilovskii Zhurnal Genetiki i Selektsii","volume":"30 1","pages":"27-35"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13061752/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147676427","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Base editing in the AUTS2 gene and high-throughput NGS genotyping of clones: a strategy for generating a cellular model.","authors":"A P Yan, P A Salnikov, А А Buzdin, V А Кovalskaia, E V Musatova, P S Orlov, О P Ryzhkova, A I Subbotovskaia, М V Suntsova, А U Khristichenko, А А Khabarova","doi":"10.18699/vjgb-26-04","DOIUrl":"10.18699/vjgb-26-04","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Studying the molecular mechanisms underlying autism spectrum disorders (ASD) requires cellular models capable of capturing cis-regulatory effects and allele-specific gene expression. In this study, we present an approach for generating induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) modified using an adenine base editor (ABE) to introduce synonymous single-nucleotide substitutions in the AUTS2 gene - a candidate involved in ASD pathogenesis. These substitutions serve as allele-specific markers, enabling the tracking of expression differences between normal and rearranged alleles in a cis-regulatory context. We developed a high-efficiency strategy for genotyping clones using amplicon-based next-generation sequencing (NGS). Analysis of over 100 subclones demonstrated that this approach surpasses Sanger sequencing in scalability, sensitivity, and cost-effectiveness. We selected clones with targeted heterozygous substitutions, assessed mosaicism levels, and performed phasing with germline heterozygous variants to confirm monoclonal origin and identify the allele carrying the chromosomal rearrangement. The resulting iPSC lines mark distinct AUTS2 alleles, providing a foundation for analyzing the impact of cis-regulatory elements on gene expression across different cell types. Our findings highlight the practical value of base editors and targeted NGS genotyping in creating cellular models with single-nucleotide substitutions for both basic and applied research.</p>","PeriodicalId":44339,"journal":{"name":"Vavilovskii Zhurnal Genetiki i Selektsii","volume":"30 1","pages":"72-84"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13058836/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147646798","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Transcriptomics of severe COVID-19.","authors":"A A Gusarova, E A Trifonova, A A Babovskaya, M M Gavrilenko, V A Stepanov","doi":"10.18699/vjgb-26-08","DOIUrl":"10.18699/vjgb-26-08","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Transcriptomics of severe COVID-19.</p>","PeriodicalId":44339,"journal":{"name":"Vavilovskii Zhurnal Genetiki i Selektsii","volume":"30 1","pages":"101-116"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13058839/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147646895","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Modification of the BphP1-QPAS1 optogenetic system for gene expression regulation in Nicotiana benthamiana tobacco leaves using near-infrared light.","authors":"E S Surkova, Y A Galimova, N V Battulina, D M Motorina, E S Omelina","doi":"10.18699/vjgb-26-03","DOIUrl":"10.18699/vjgb-26-03","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In plants, the regulation of transgene transcription is typically achieved using chemical agents. A safe alternative to chemically induced systems may be optogenetic systems. The BphP1-QPAS1 system has distinct advantages over other optogenetic systems, as it is activated by near-infrared (NIR, 780 nm) light, which is beyond the spectrum of plant photoreceptors. This system is based on the use of a split transcription factor (TF), consisting of the DNA-binding and dimerization domains of the yeast TF Gal4, fused to the QPAS1 component, along with the transactivation domain VP16 fused to BphP1. Under NIR light, BphP1 interacts with QPAS1, leading to the formation of the functional TF Gal4-VP16. A primary obstacle to using optogenetic systems in plants is their undesired activation under white light, which is vital for normal plant growth. A potential solution to this issue is temporarily removing one component of the split TF from the nucleus under white light. We modified the BphP1-QPAS1 system to activate reporter gene expression in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves using NIR light. We combined BphP1-QPAS1 with several variants of LOV domain-containing proteins activated by blue light (460-480 nm). The best results were achieved by combining the BphP1-QPAS1 system with the AsLOV2 domain, which carries the degron sequence RRRG at the C-terminal Jα helix and initiates the degradation of the chimeric protein NES-Gal4-QPAS1-AsLOV2-RRRG under white light. This modification induced the BphP1-QPAS1 system in tobacco leaves only under NIR light, but not in the dark or under white light. We believe that, in the future, the BphP1-QPAS1 system could be applied to enhance plant resistance to adverse environmental conditions, pests, and viral diseases.</p>","PeriodicalId":44339,"journal":{"name":"Vavilovskii Zhurnal Genetiki i Selektsii","volume":"30 1","pages":"61-71"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13058837/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147646848","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Different patterns of P transposon and blood retrotransposon distribution in Harwich and Canton-S sub-strains do not affect the manifestation of Drosophila melanogaster intraspecific PM hybrid dysgenesis.","authors":"L P Zakharenko, Y Y Ilinsky","doi":"10.18699/vjgb-26-14","DOIUrl":"10.18699/vjgb-26-14","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Intraspecific infertility, the nature of which is not always understood, occurs in many eukaryotes. Intraspecific PM hybrid dysgenesis (PM HD) in Drosophila melanogaster manifests in one cross direction as offspring infertility and other genetic disorders due to incompatibility between the maternal cytoplasm and the paternal genome. PM HD is believed to result from a massive transposition of the P-element when the maternal cytoplasm lacks a repressor to block it. In this work, we have investigated the distribution of the P transposon and blood retrotransposon in the reference PM HD strains (Canton-S and Harwich), which have been maintained in different laboratories for several decades. P-element distribution patterns vary among Harwich sub-strains, indicating that the P-element was translocated in these genomes. The rate of movement of the P-element, which was not induced by crosses, is comparable to the rate of movement of other DNA transposons. The distribution pattern of the low-active blood retrotransposon in Harwich sub-strains is more stable than that of the P-element, indicating genetic relatedness between sub-strains. Derivatives of the P-element detected in some Canton-S sub-strains possibly indicate genetic contamination. The significant difference in the blood transposable element distribution pattern in Canton-S sub-strains also indicates genetic heterogeneity among them. Despite the complex genealogy of the studied sub-strains, including cases of possible genetic contamination, and differences in P-element distribution, the ability to express PM HD symptoms is preserved in the studied sub-strains.</p>","PeriodicalId":44339,"journal":{"name":"Vavilovskii Zhurnal Genetiki i Selektsii","volume":"30 1","pages":"36-42"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13058841/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147646833","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Soybean locus qDTF-7 as an example of genetic heterogeneity associated with flowering and maturity time.","authors":"R N Perfil'ev, M I Shmatova, A B Shcherban, E A Salina","doi":"10.18699/vjgb-26-06","DOIUrl":"10.18699/vjgb-26-06","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have become a standard approach for identifying quantitative trait loci associated with diverse phenotypic traits. Further investigation of the locus - specifically, the search for the causal gene and mutation - may present various challenges. One of the challenges is genetic heterogeneity (or locus heterogeneity), when alleles from different closely located genes can influence the same trait. Recently, using GWAS, we found the qDTF-7 locus on soybean chromosome 3, which is associated with flowering time under Novosibirsk conditions. Initially, we identified GmTOE1, an ortholog of TOE1 (TARGET OF EAT1), a known flowering-time regulator in Arabidopsis, as the most likely candidate gene for this locus. Four major haplotypes were identified in GmTOE1, which are associated with soybean flowering and maturity and are likely to provide soybean adaptation to northern latitudes. However, this gene showed only a very weak association with soybean flowering in the Novosibirsk region compared to the Oryol region, suggesting the presence of another gene within the locus that influences flowering time. We therefore re-analyzed genes in the qDTF-7 locus and identified GmRVE8c, an Arabidopsis RVE8 (REVEILLE 8) ortholog, located ~21 kb upstream of GmTOE1; RVE8 is a circadian clock component involved in plant development. After studying the natural variation of the GmRVE8c genes, we found four major haplotypes that arose due to three nonsynonymous substitutions and one 19-bp deletion leading to a frameshift. To identify three haplotypes, GmRVE8chap1, 3, 4, which are predominant in improved soybean cultivars, we developed DNA markers. Using these markers, we genotyped 129 soybean accessions, the developmental time of which had been studied in the Novosibirsk and Oryol regions. Using our data and data from SoyOmics, we found the GmRVE8chap3 and GmRVE8chap4 haplotypes to be associated with late flowering and maturity in soybean. The early-maturing haplotype GmRVE8chap1 is predominant in cultivars from northern regions and is likely associated with the adaptation of soybean to high latitudes. The GmRVE8chap4 haplotype is in complete linkage with the early-maturing allele GmTOE1C, whereas the GmRVE8chap3 haplotype shows strong linkage with the late maturing allele GmTOE1T. Furthermore, the ANOVA results indicate an interaction between GmRVE8c and E1, the major regulator of flowering in soybean. This interaction is manifested as a stronger effect of the GmRVE8chap3,4 haplotypes on flowering and maturity in the genetic background of the e1-as allele compared with E1. Together, these findings define a complex and intriguing locus, which may serve as a possible example of a genetically heterogeneous locus.</p>","PeriodicalId":44339,"journal":{"name":"Vavilovskii Zhurnal Genetiki i Selektsii","volume":"30 1","pages":"43-52"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13058838/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147646897","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rational bioinformatic approach to the analysis of functional properties of metabolites of probiotic microorganisms based on gene network reconstruction.","authors":"V A Ivanisenko, T M Khlebodarova, M A Kleshchev, A R Volyanskaya, I V Yatsyk, A V Adamovskaya, T V Ivanisenko, P S Demenkov, N A Kolchanov","doi":"10.18699/vjgb-26-11","DOIUrl":"10.18699/vjgb-26-11","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>An important direction in industrial microbiology is the development of probiotic strains with valuable consumer properties. The probiotic industry is currently one of the most rapidly developing segments of the food and pharmaceutical sectors. Stearic (octadecanoic) acid C18:0 is one of the major metabolites present in the cell-free supernatant of the bacterium Streptococcus thermophilus, which is widely used in the production of fermented dairy products, including yogurt and cheese. S. thermophilus affects not only the texture and sensory properties of products, but also exhibits various probiotic effects, including antioxidant activity, modulation of the gut microbiota, inhibition of certain pathogens, and others. It is assumed that a number of probiotic effects exerted by S. thermophilus may be mediated through octadecanoic acid as one of its main metabolites. Octadecanoic acid C18:0, like other long-chain fatty acids, enters the human body via several mechanisms, including protein-mediated transport and passive diffusion across cell membranes. Inside the cell, octadecanoic acid serves not only as a substrate for the synthesis of triglycerides and other complex lipids, but, as shown in cell-based and in vivo models, also acts as a modulator of signaling and stress responses, including those associated with apoptosis. This is an important aspect of the influence of stearic acid on organism functioning, underpinning its anti-inflammatory and potentially anti-tumor effects. However, the molecular genetic mechanisms by which octadecanoic acid acts as a probiotic on the human organism remain insufficiently understood. In the present study, using our previously developed information - software system ANDSystem (employing machine learning and artificial intelligence for automatic extraction of knowledge from scientific texts and databases), we reconstructed gene networks regulating the intrinsic (mitochondrial) and extrinsic (death receptor-mediated) apoptotic pathways in human cells under the influence of stearic (octadecanoic) acid. To search for metabolites produced by probiotic microorganisms that may have beneficial therapeutic properties, we propose an approach that combines gene network reconstruction with differential gene expression analysis. Using this approach, we show that octadecanoic acid produced by S. thermophilus can control the intrinsic and extrinsic apoptotic pathways primarily via regulation of PTGS2 expression; the results indicate that cyclooxygenase-2 is a key regulator mediating the effect of octadecanoic acid on apoptosis-related genes.</p>","PeriodicalId":44339,"journal":{"name":"Vavilovskii Zhurnal Genetiki i Selektsii","volume":"30 1","pages":"5-14"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13058943/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147646858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"New arguments in the discussion about the nature of picobirnaviruses.","authors":"A Yu Kashnikov, N V Epifanova, N A Novikova","doi":"10.18699/vjgb-26-13","DOIUrl":"10.18699/vjgb-26-13","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Picobirnaviruses (PBVs), members of the Picobirnaviridae family, are found in a wide range of hosts, including eukaryotes (both higher and lower), fungi, and bacteria. However, scientists are unsure about their \"true master\" or primary host. While often found in animals, including cases of gastroenteritis, they are also detected in environmental samples and have shown genetic links to bacterial and fungal viruses. The lack of a reliable cell culture or animal model for PBV propagation further complicates determining their host specificity. Due to the discovery of prokaryotic regions (motifs) in segments of the PBV genome, it was suggested that their hosts are prokaryotic. However, even this discovery did not pin one specific host to PBVs; since then PBV-like genomes not characteristic of the studied PBV strains, with a mitochondrial genetic code characteristic of lower eukaryotes (molds and invertebrates), were discovered. And recently, a new version of the origin of PBVs from vertebrate viruses and fungi has appeared, denying their phage nature. To understand the nature of genetically diverse PBV strains detected in different organisms, researchers were guided by information about the presence of motifs specific to the viral family in the genome, the genetic code used, and the method of distribution. Recent research suggests that PBVs, previously thought to have a vertebrate origin, may have also evolved from fungal sources denying their phage nature. Some PBV-like sequences have been found to utilize the fungal mitochondrial genetic code, indicating a possible fungal origin or a close relationship with fungal viruses like mitoviruses. This discovery challenges the previously held view of PBVs as exclusively vertebrate viruses and suggests a more complex evolutionary history. The information available today inspires confidence in the imminent conclusion of the ongoing discussion about the possible PBV hosts. In particular, a hypothesis has recently emerged demonstrating a possible mechanism for the replacement of the genetic code in RNA viruses, which makes it possible to explain the origin of PBV forms with the mitochondrial genetic code capable of reproduction in cells of lower eukaryotes using the example of phages. However, an evolutionarily deterministic model demonstrating the path of PBV formation with the genetic code of mold and invertebrate cells has not yet been presented. According to the authors of this review, this evolutionary path is due to the endosymbiotic relationships between the putative PBV hosts, contributing to the horizontal virus spread. The purpose of this review article is to attempt to describe a possible path of formation from the ancestral PBV form and its derived evolutionary forms, some of which inherited a genome with a prokaryotic motif and a standard genetic code, while others acquired a non-standard form of the genome with the code of lower eukaryotes. This review article focuses on the leading role of ","PeriodicalId":44339,"journal":{"name":"Vavilovskii Zhurnal Genetiki i Selektsii","volume":"30 1","pages":"126-135"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13061751/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147677518","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}