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Human endogenous retroviruses
Author(s) -
Cohen Maurice,
Larsson Erik
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
bioessays
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.175
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1521-1878
pISSN - 0265-9247
DOI - 10.1002/bies.950090603
Subject(s) - endogenous retrovirus , biology , extant taxon , genome , human genome , genetics , encode , gene , retrovirus , lineage (genetic) , germline , virology , evolutionary biology
Several studies have revealed the presence in human DNA of thousands of endogenous retrovirus genomes, or HERVs. Many HERVs are related to extant retroviruses that infect other vertebrates and some have been present in the germ line of primates for millions of years. Although the HERVs that have been isolated are defective and thus do not encode infectious retroviruses, there may be HERVs that are capable of infection. In addition, because HERVs are so ancient in the human lineage, evolution of the human genome may have included the acquisition of some HERV genes for strictly cellular functions.