Human Endogenous Retroviruses Are Ancient Acquired Elements Still Shaping Innate Immune Responses.

ABSTRACT: About 8% of our genome is composed of sequences with viral origin, namely human Endogenous Retroviruses (HERVs). HERVs are relics of ancient infections that affected the primates' germ line along the last 100 million of years, and became stable elements at the interface between self and foreign DNA. Intriguingly, HERV co-evolution with the host led to the domestication of activities previously devoted to the retrovirus life cycle, providing novel cellular functions. For example, selected HERV envelope proteins have been coopted for pregnancy-related purposes, and proviral Long Terminal Repeats participate in the transcriptional regulation of various cellular genes. Given the HERV persistence in the host genome and its basal expression in most healthy tissues, it is reasonable that human de

SUBMITTER: Grandi N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6139349 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature