Expression pattern analysis of transcribed HERV sequences is complicated by ex vivo recombination

Aline Flockerzi, Jochen Maydt, Oliver Frank, Alessia Ruggieri, Esther Maldener, Wolfgang Seifarth, Patrik Medstrand, Thomas Lengauer, Andreas Meyerhans, Christine Leib-Moesch, Eckart Meese, Jens Mayer

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Background: The human genome comprises numerous human endogenous retroviruses ( HERVs) that formed millions of years ago in ancestral species. A number of loci of the HERV-K(HML-2) family are evolutionarily much younger. A recent study suggested an infectious HERV-K(HML-2) variant in humans and other primates. Isolating such a varian t from human individuals would be a significant finding for human biology. Results: When investigating expression patterns of specific HML-2 proviruses we encountered HERV-K(HML-2) cDNA sequences without proviral homologues in the human genome, named HERV-KX, that could very well support recently suggested infectious HML-2 variants. However, detailed sequence analysis, using the software RECCO, suggested that HERV-KX sequences were produced by recombination, possibly arising ex vivo, between transcripts from different HML-2 proviral loci. Conclusion: As RT-PCR probably will be instrumental for isolating an infectious HERV-K(HML2) variant, generation of "new" HERV-K(HML-2) sequences by ex vivo recombination seems inevitable. Further complicated by an unknown amount of allelic sequence variation in HERV-K(HML-2) proviruses, newly identified HERV-K(HML-2) variants should be interpreted very cautiously.
Original languageEnglish
JournalRetrovirology
Volume4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2007

Bibliographical note

The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015.
The record was previously connected to the following departments: Molecular Virology (013212007)

Subject classification (UKÄ)

  • Pharmacology and Toxicology

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