Restriction of an Extinct Retrovirus by the Human TRIM5α Antiviral Protein

Primate genomes contain a large number of endogenous retroviruses and encode evolutionarily dynamic proteins that provide intrinsic immunity to retroviral infections. We report here the resurrection of the core protein of a 4-million-year-old endogenous virus from the chimpanzee genome and show that...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inScience (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 316; no. 5832; pp. 1756 - 1758
Main Authors Kaiser, Shari M, Malik, Harmit S, Emerman, Michael
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Washington, DC American Association for the Advancement of Science 22.06.2007
Subjects
Biological and medical sciences
Cells
Chimpanzees
Evolution
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genomes
HIV 1
Humans
Infections
Microbiology
Primates
Replicative cycle, interference, host-virus relations, pathogenicity, miscellaneous strains
Retroviridae
Virology
Viruses
Virus
Vertebrata
Mammalia
Endogenous
Primates
Simioidea
Retroviridae
Antiviral
Pan troglodytes
Host virus relation
Protein
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Summary:Primate genomes contain a large number of endogenous retroviruses and encode evolutionarily dynamic proteins that provide intrinsic immunity to retroviral infections. We report here the resurrection of the core protein of a 4-million-year-old endogenous virus from the chimpanzee genome and show that the human variant of the intrinsic immune protein TRIM5α can actively prevent infection by this virus. However, we suggest that selective changes that have occurred in the human lineage during the acquisition of resistance to this virus, and perhaps similar viruses, may have left our species more susceptible to infection by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1).
Bibliography:http://www.scienceonline.org/
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1140579