Evolutionary Time-Scale of the Begomoviruses: Evidence from Integrated Sequences in the Nicotiana Genome

Despite having single stranded DNA genomes that are replicated by host DNA polymerases, viruses in the family Geminiviridae are apparently evolving as rapidly as some RNA viruses. The observed substitution rates of geminiviruses in the genera Begomovirus and Mastrevirus are so high that the entire family could conceivably have originated less than a million years ago (MYA). However, the existence of geminivirus related DNA (GRD) integrated within the genomes of various Nicotiana species suggests that the geminiviruses probably originated >10 MYA. Some have even suggested that a distinct New-World (NW) lineage of begomoviruses may have arisen following the separation by continental drift of African and American proto-begomoviruses ∼110 MYA. We evaluate these various geminivirus origin hypotheses using Bayesian coalescent-based approaches to date firstly the Nicotiana GRD integration events, and then the divergence of the NW and Old-World (OW) begomoviruses. Besides rejecting the possibility of a<2 MYA OW-NW begomovirus split, we could also discount that it may have occurred concomitantly with the breakup of Gondwanaland 110 MYA. Although we could only confidently narrow the date of the split down to between 2 and 80 MYA, the most plausible (and best supported) date for the split is between 20 and 30 MYA – a time when global cooling ended the dispersal of temperate species between Asia and North America via the Beringian land bridge.