Phylogenetic Analysis Reveals That ERVs "Die Young" but HERV-H Is Unusually Conserved.

ABSTRACT: About 8% of the human genome is made up of endogenous retroviruses (ERVs). Though most human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) are thought to be irrelevant to our biology notable exceptions include members of the HERV-H family that are necessary for the correct functioning of stem cells. ERVs are commonly found in two forms, the full-length proviral form, and the more numerous solo-LTR form, thought to result from homologous recombination events. Here we introduce a phylogenetic framework to study ERV insertion and solo-LTR formation. We then apply the framework to site patterns sampled from a set of long alignments covering six primate genomes. Studying six categories of ERVs we quantitatively recapitulate patterns of insertional activity that are usually described in qualitative terms in t

SUBMITTER: Gemmell P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4905674 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature