Evolution
The evolution of papillomaviruses is thought to be slow compared to many other virus types, but there are no experimental measurements currently available. This is probably because the papillomavirus genome is composed of genetically stable double-stranded DNA that is replicated with high fidelity by the host cell's DNA replication machinery.
It is believed that papillomaviruses generally co-evolve with a particular species of host animal over many years, although there are strong evidences against the hypothesis of coevolution. In a particularly speedy example, HPV-16 has evolved slightly as human populations have expanded across the globe and now varies in different geographic regions in a way that probably reflects the history of human migration.
Other HPV types, such as HPV-13, vary relatively little in different human populations. In fact, the sequence of HPV-13 closely resembles a papillomavirus of bonobos (also known as pygmy chimpanzees). It is not clear whether this similarity is due to recent transmission between species or because HPV-13 has simply changed very little in the six or so million years since humans and bonobos diverged.
Read more about this topic: Papillomavirus
Famous quotes containing the word evolution:
“The evolution of sense is, in a sense, the evolution of nonsense.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“Like Freud, Jung believes that the human mind contains archaic remnants, residues of the long history and evolution of mankind. In the unconscious, primordial “universally human images” lie dormant. Those primordial images are the most ancient, universal and “deep” thoughts of mankind. Since they embody feelings as much as thought, they are properly “thought feelings.” Where Freud postulates a mass psyche, Jung postulates a collective psyche.”
—Patrick Mullahy (b. 1912)
“As a natural process, of the same character as the development of a tree from its seed, or of a fowl from its egg, evolution excludes creation and all other kinds of supernatural intervention.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)