Differential evolutionary fate of an ancestral primate endogenous retrovirus envelope gene, the EnvV syncytin, captured for a function in placentation.

ABSTRACT: Syncytins are envelope genes of retroviral origin that have been co-opted for a role in placentation. They promote cell-cell fusion and are involved in the formation of a syncytium layer--the syncytiotrophoblast--at the materno-fetal interface. They were captured independently in eutherian mammals, and knockout mice demonstrated that they are absolutely required for placenta formation and embryo survival. Here we provide evidence that these "necessary" genes acquired "by chance" have a definite lifetime with diverse fates depending on the animal lineage, being both gained and lost in the course of evolution. Analysis of a retroviral envelope gene, the envV gene, present in primate genomes and belonging to the endogenous retrovirus type V (ERV-V) provirus, shows that this captured gene, whi

SUBMITTER: Esnault C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3610889 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature