Repeated recruitment of LTR retrotransposons as promoters by the anti-apoptotic locus NAIP during mammalian evolution.

ABSTRACT: Neuronal apoptosis inhibitory protein (NAIP, also known as BIRC1) is a member of the conserved inhibitor of apoptosis protein (IAP) family. Lineage-specific rearrangements and expansions of this locus have yielded different copy numbers among primates and rodents, with human retaining a single functional copy and mouse possessing several copies, depending on the strain. Roles for this gene in disease have been documented, but little is known about transcriptional regulation of NAIP. We show here that NAIP has multiple promoters sharing no similarity between human and rodents. Moreover, we demonstrate that multiple, domesticated long terminal repeats (LTRs) of endogenous retroviral elements provide NAIP promoter function in human, mouse, and rat. In human, an LTR serves as a tissue-specific

SUBMITTER: Romanish MT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1781489 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature