The map of Pfam motifs in the variable region between the MT and HEL domains in Flexiviridae 2 polyproteins ( Figure 5) shows that they have a very similar domain organisation, basically an AlkB domain followed by an OTU domain and a peptidase domain, located towards the C-terminal part of the sub-sequence. The relatively constant domain organisation seems to be consistent with a small number of initial integrations that were subsequently diffused to related genomes e.g. by homologous recombination. However, this is not fully consistent with the fact that the viruses with AlkB domains have been collected from hosts at very different locations, e.g. Canada, USA, Russia, Italy, Germany, France, India, Taiwan, China and Japan. Although import of virus-infected species or transmission by insects may transport viruses over significant distances, it is not obvious that this is enough to explain the observed distribution of AlkB-like domains. Therefore several independent integrations, mainly from closely related hosts, have to be considered as an alternative explanation. This explanation seems to be supported by the apparent lack of any consistent evolutionary relationships between the various AlkB domains, as seen in Table 2 . It is not easy to see how this model can be consistent with the observed similarities in domain organisation in Flexiviridae. Assuming that this region has a high degree of variability, one would expect the variability to affect localisation of integrated domains as well. However, it is possible that conserved regions e.g. in the polyprotein play a significant role in integration of novel domains. It may be relevant in this context that preliminary simulations indicate that e.g. the AlkB domains tend to form independent folding domains in the folded RNA structure of the polyprotein RNA (F. Drabløs, unpublished data). This property may possibly facilitate the insertion of such domains into the viral genome.