Reconstruction of a replication-competent ancestral murine endogenous retrovirus-L.

ABSTRACT:

Background

About 10% of the mouse genome is composed of endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) that represent a molecular fossil record of past retroviral infections. One such retrovirus, murine ERV-L (MuERV-L) is an env-deficient ERV that has undergone episodic proliferation, with the most recent amplification occurring ~ 2 million years ago. MuERV-L related sequences have been co-opted by mice for antiretroviral defense, and possibly as promoters for some genes that regulate totipotency in early mouse embryos. However, MuERV-L sequences present in modern mouse genomes have not been observed to replicate.

Results

Here, we describe the reconstruction of an ancestral MuERV-L (ancML) sequence through paleovirological analyses of MuERV-L elements in the modern mouse genome. The resulti

SUBMITTER: Blanco-Melo D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5930517 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature