Retrovirology (Jun 2007)

Expression pattern analysis of transcribed HERV sequences is complicated by <it>ex vivo </it>recombination

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

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-4690-4-39
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 4, no. 1
p. 39

Abstract

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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 variant 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(HML-2) 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.