PuSH - Publication Server of Helmholtz Zentrum München

Flockerzi, A.* ; Maydt, J.* ; Frank, O.* ; Ruggieri, A.* ; Maldener, E.* ; Seifarth, W.* ; Medstrand, P.* ; Lengauer, T.* ; Meyerhans, A.* ; Leib-Mösch, C. ; Meese, E.* ; Mayer, J.*

Expression pattern analysis of transcribed HERV sequences is complicated by ex vivo recombination.

Retrovirol. 4:39 (2007)
Publ. Version/Full Text DOI
Open Access Gold
Creative Commons Lizenzvertrag
The human genome comprises numerous human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) that formed millions of years ago in ancestral species. A number of loci of the HERV-K(HML-2) family are evolutionarily much younger. A recent study suggested an infectious HERV-K(HML-2) variant in humans and other primates. Isolating such a variant from human individuals would be a significant finding for human biology.When investigating expression patterns of specific HML-2 proviruses we encountered HERV-K(HML-2) cDNA sequences without proviral homologues in the human genome, named HERV-KX, that could very well support recently suggested infectious HML-2 variants. However, detailed sequence analysis, using the software RECCO, suggested that HERV-KX sequences were produced by recombination, possibly arising ex vivo, between transcripts from different HML-2 proviral loci.As RT-PCR probably will be instrumental for isolating an infectious HERV-K(HML-2) variant, generation of "new" HERV-K(HML-2) sequences by ex vivo recombination seems inevitable. Further complicated by an unknown amount of allelic sequence variation in HERV-K(HML-2) proviruses, newly identified HERV-K(HML-2) variants should be interpreted very cautiously.
Altmetric
Additional Metrics?
Edit extra informations Login
Publication type Article: Journal article
Document type Scientific Article
e-ISSN 1742-4690
Journal Retrovirology
Quellenangaben Volume: 4, Issue: , Pages: , Article Number: 39 Supplement: ,
Publisher ASBMB
Reviewing status Peer reviewed