All of us know that retroviruses (as DNA provirus) integrate into cellular DNA. In addition, some of them, for example avian retroviruses, have been found in the genome of other viruses (avian poxviruses, some herpes viruses). But are they able to integrate into the mitochondrial DNA? Thank you!
Retroviruses can be integrated into cellular DNA.
Herpes or avian pox viruses can both be used .
I have no experience with avian retrovirus .
I would have thought that retroviral integration into mitochondria is highly unlikely, given the requirement for formation of a pre-integration complex and then integrase-mediated integration into nuclear DNA. On saying that, there is recent evidence suggestion that adeno-associated virus can integrate into mitochondrial DNA: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23770691
Dear Radostina! Please see the text of a long-standing work on this topic. All the best. Vladimir
I'm not a specialist in the field of the present question. However, I've found the reference linked below, which seems to say that the integration of retroviruses into mitochondrial DNA is very improbable. (Clicking the link shows the relevant page 101 of the book, where the subsection "Risk of creating new diseases" is given.)
https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=9pS24iQiBEUC&pg=PA101&dq=retroviruses+integrate+into+mitochondrial+DNA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjfzcXXwoPNAhWGXaYKHad_D-UQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=retroviruses%20integrate%20into%20mitochondrial%20DNA&f=false
I`d say, the chances for that are very low. For simple retroviruses (MLV, ASLV, etc) integration into chromosome is possible only during cell division when the nuclear membrane dissociates. Hardly can I imagine the dissapearance of mitochondrial membrane at any stage of cell cycle. For complex retroviruses (lentiviruses, as HIV), nuclear import is occuring in the form of preintegration complex (the semi-uncoated lentiviral capsid retaining enough Vpr protein, which is the main factor of nuclear import. Again, none of this nuclear import machinery seems to be known on mitochindrial membrane.
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