The importance of gene expression regulation in viruses based upon G-quadruplex may point to its potential utilization in therapeutic targeting. Here, we present analyses as to the occurrence of putative G-quadruplex-forming sequences (PQS) in all reference viral dsDNA genomes and evaluate their dependence on PQS occurrence in host organisms using the G4Hunter tool. PQS frequencies differ across host taxa without regard to GC content. The overlay of PQS with annotated regions reveals the localization of PQS in specific regions. While abundance in some, such as repeat regions, is shared by all groups, others are unique. There is abundance within introns of Eukaryota-infecting viruses, but depletion of PQS in introns of bacteria-infecting viruses. We reveal a significant positive correlation between PQS frequencies in dsDNA viruses and corresponding hosts from archaea, bacteria, and eukaryotes. A strong relationship between PQS in a virus and its host indicates their close coevolution and evolutionarily reciprocal mimicking of genome organization.

Department of Biology and Ecology Institute of Environmental Technologies Faculty of Science University of Ostrava 710 00 Ostrava Czech Republic

Department of Experimental Biology Faculty of Science Masaryk University Kamenice 5 625 00 Brno Czech Republic

Department of Informatics Mendel University in Brno Zemědělská 1 613 00 Brno Czech Republic

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Brno University of Technology Technická 2896 2 616 69 Brno Czech Republic

Institute of Biophysics of the Czech Academy of Sciences Královopolská 135 612 65 Brno Czech Republic

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