Endogenous nege-like viral elements in arthropod genomes reveal virus-host coevolution and ancient history of two plant virus families.

were present in a wide range of arthropod genomes but were absent in plant genomes, indicating that plant viruses in these two families possibly evolved from the nege-like virus ancestor through cross-species horizontal virus transmission. Our findings provide a new perspective on the virus-host coevolution and the origins of plant viruses.