Human Endogenous Retroviruses; Evolutionary Dynamics, Chromosomal Location and Host Benefit

Paul Nelson, University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, UK
Graham Freimanis, University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, UK
Denise Roden, University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, UK

Published online: July 2008

DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0020831

Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) are remnants of past retroviral infection that have been integrated within the human genome. Our glimpse of these viruses perhaps highlights their evolutionary dynamics over time. Survival of both virus and host are paramount and it is plausible that some benefit has arisen whereby the human host has gained some selective advantage. In particular, some retroviral elements may have regulatory or biological functions. Of course harbouring viruses could also lead to harm if activated by environmental agents.

Keywords: endogenous retrovirus; genome; evolutionary dynamics; chromosomes; host benefit

Figure 1. Division of human DNA. Approximate percentage breakdown of DNA. Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) constitute part of the DNA ascribed to transposable elements.
Figure 2. Time-line of HERV integration within primate evolution. Modified with regard to Steinhuber et al. (1995).
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 References
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 Further Reading
    book Blomberg J and Ushameckis JP (2005) "Evolutionary aspects of human endogenous retroviral sequences (HERVs) and disease". In: Sverdlov ED (ed.) Retroviruses and Primate Genome Evolution, chap. 11, pp. 204–242. Eurekah.com.
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    Chen DT and Johanning GL (2007) Expression of multiple human endogenous retrovirus surface envelope proteins in ovarian cancer. International Journal of Cancer 120: 81–90.
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    Hughes JF and Coffin JM (2005) Human endogenous retroviral elements as indicators of ectopic recombination events in the primate genome. Genetics 171: 1183–1194.
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    Nelson PN, Hooley P, Roden D et al. (2004) Human endogenous retroviruses: transposable elements with potential? Clinical and Experimental Immunology 138: 1–9.
    Tristem M (2000) Identification and characterization of novel human endogenous retrovirus families by phylogenetic screening of the human genome mapping project database. Journal of Virology 74: 3715–3730.
    Weiss RA (2006) The discovery of endogenous retroviruses. Retrovirology 3(67): 1–11.

Related Sub-Topics:

Evolutionary Genomics | Molecular Evolution | Human Evolution | Nonchromosomal DNA | Evolution of Coding and Functional Modules
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Article Title: Human Endogenous Retroviruses; Evolutionary Dynamics, Chromosomal Location and Host Benefit
 
How to Cite close
Nelson, Paul, Freimanis, Graham, and Roden, Denise(Jul 2008) Human Endogenous Retroviruses; Evolutionary Dynamics, Chromosomal Location and Host Benefit. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0020831]