SpringerLink
Log in

Identification of putative endogenous retroviruses actively transcribed in the brain

  • Published:
Virus Genes Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Remnant proviral sequences in the genome resulting from the ancient germline infection of exogenous retroviruses are called endogenous retroviruses (ERVs). The transcriptional activation of human ERVs (HERVs) in the brain of patients with some neurologic diseases suggests that ERVs may participate in certain disease processes in the central nervous system. In this study, we identified putative murine ERVs (MuERVs) which are transcriptionally active in the brain and characterized their biological properties to better understand the ERVs’ roles in the brain pathophysiology. The brain and selective non-nervous tissues (heart, muscle, adrenal gland, and salivary gland) of female C57BL/6J mice were subjected to RT-PCR analyses of MuERV expression by amplifying the 3′-end U3 regions and full-length/subgenomic transcripts. The expression patterns of the U3 regions and subgenomic transcripts in the brain were unique compared to the other tissues as well as the genomic MuERV profile. Two putative MuERVs (8,027 and 5,668 bp) were mapped on the mouse genome (chromosome 10, and chromosomes 4 and 8, respectively) using the MuERV U3 sequences, which were evidently expressed in the brain, as probes. Biological properties of these putative MuERVs, such as transcription potential, primer binding site, coding potential, integration age, recombination, and flanking host genes, were characterized. In particular, one of the two putative MuERV isolates had coding potentials for intact group specific antigen (gag), and truncated polymerase (pol) and envelope (env) polypeptides, while the other was defective for all three polypeptides. The findings from this study suggest that a specific group of MuERVs are constitutively expressed in the brain and they may participate in normal and pathogenic events pertaining to the brain through their replication gene products (e.g., gag and env polypeptides) as well as interactions with flanking host genes.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price includes VAT (Germany)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. D.N. Cooper, Nature encyclopedia of the human genome (Nature Publishing Group New York, 2003)

  2. E.S. Lander, L.M. Linton, B. Birren, C. Nusbaum, M.C. Zody, J. Baldwin, K. Devon, K. Dewar, M. Doyle, W. FitzHugh, R. Funke, D. Gage, K. Harris, A. Heaford, J. Howland, L. Kann, J. Lehoczky, R. LeVine, P. McEwan, K. McKernan, J. Meldrim, J.P. Mesirov, C. Miranda, W. Morris, J. Naylor, C. Raymond, M. Rosetti, R. Santos, A. Sheridan, C. Sougnez, N. Stange-Thomann, N. Stojanovic, A. Subramanian, D. Wyman, J. Rogers, J. Sulston, R. Ainscough, S. Beck, D. Bentley, J. Burton, C. Clee, N. Carter, A. Coulson, R. Deadman, P. Deloukas, A. Dunham, I. Dunham, R. Durbin, L. French, D. Grafham, S. Gregory, T. Hubbard, S. Humphray, A. Hunt, M. Jones, C. Lloyd, A. McMurray, L. Matthews, S. Mercer, S. Milne, J.C. Mullikin, A. Mungall, R. Plumb, M. Ross, R. Shownkeen, S. Sims, R.H. Waterston, R.K. Wilson, L.W. Hillier, J.D. McPherson, M.A. Marra, E.R. Mardis, L.A. Fulton, A.T. Chinwalla, K.H. Pepin, W.R. Gish, S.L. Chissoe, M.C. Wendl, K.D. Delehaunty, T.L. Miner, A. Delehaunty, J.B. Kramer, L.L. Cook, R.S. Fulton, D.L. Johnson, P.J. Minx, S.W. Clifton, T. Hawkins, E. Branscomb, P. Predki, P. Richardson, S. Wenning, T. Slezak, N. Doggett, J.F. Cheng, A. Olsen, S. Lucas, C. Elkin, E. Uberbacher, M. Frazier, R.A. Gibbs, D.M. Muzny, S.E. Scherer, J.B. Bouck, E.J. Sodergren, K.C. Worley, C.M. Rives, J.H. Gorrell, M.L. Metzker, S.L. Naylor, R.S. Kucherlapati, D.L. Nelson, G.M. Weinstock, Y. Sakaki, A. Fujiyama, M. Hattori, T. Yada, A. Toyoda, T. Itoh, C. Kawagoe, H. Watanabe, Y. Totoki, T. Taylor, J. Weissenbach, R. Heilig, W. Saurin, F. Artiguenave, P. Brottier, T. Bruls, E. Pelletier, C. Robert, P. Wincker, D.R. Smith, L. Doucette-Stamm, M. Rubenfield, K. Weinstock, H.M. Lee, J. Dubois, A. Rosenthal, M. Platzer, G. Nyakatura, S. Taudien, A. Rump, H. Yang, J. Yu, J. Wang, G. Huang, J. Gu, L. Hood, L. Rowen, A. Madan, S. Qin, R.W. Davis, N.A. Federspiel, A.P. Abola, M.J. Proctor, R.M. Myers, J. Schmutz, M. Dickson, J. Grimwood, D.R. Cox, M.V. Olson, R. Kaul, C. Raymond, N. Shimizu, K. Kawasaki, S. Minoshima, G.A. Evans, M. Athanasiou, R. Schultz, B.A. Roe, F. Chen, H. Pan, J. Ramser, H. Lehrach, R. Reinhardt, W.R. McCombie, de la M. Bastide, N. Dedhia, H. Blocker, K. Hornischer, G. Nordsiek, R. Agarwala, L. Aravind, J.A. Bailey, A. Bateman, S. Batzoglou, E. Birney, P. Bork, D.G. Brown, C.B. Burge, L. Cerutti, H.C. Chen, D. Church, M. Clamp, R.R. Copley, T. Doerks, S.R. Eddy, E.E. Eichler, T.S. Furey, J. Galagan, J.G. Gilbert, C. Harmon, Y. Hayashizaki, D. Haussler, H. Hermjakob, K. Hokamp, W. Jang, L.S. Johnson, T.A. Jones, S. Kasif, A. Kaspryzk, S. Kennedy, W.J. Kent, P. Kitts, E.V. Koonin, I. Korf, D. Kulp, D. Lancet, T.M. Lowe, A. McLysaght, T. Mikkelsen, J.V. Moran, N. Mulder, V.J. Pollara, C.P. Ponting, G. Schuler, J. Schultz, G. Slater, A.F. Smit, E. Stupka, J. Szustakowski, D. Thierry-Mieg, J. Thierry-Mieg, L. Wagner, J. Wallis, R. Wheeler, A. Williams, Y.I. Wolf, K.H. Wolfe, S.P. Yang, R.F. Yeh, F. Collins, M.S. Guyer, J. Peterson, A. Felsenfeld, K.A. Wetterstrand, A. Patrinos, M.J. Morgan, de P. Jong, J.J. Catanese, K. Osoegawa, H. Shizuya, S. Choi, Y.J. Chen, Nature 409, 860–921 (2001)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. R.H. Waterston, K. Lindblad-Toh, E. Birney, J. Rogers, J.F. Abril, P. Agarwal, R. Agarwala, R. Ainscough, M. Alexandersson, P. An, S.E. Antonarakis, J. Attwood, R. Baertsch, J. Bailey, K. Barlow, S. Beck, E. Berry, B. Birren, T. Bloom, P. Bork, M. Botcherby, N. Bray, M.R. Brent, D.G. Brown, S.D. Brown, C. Bult, J. Burton, J. Butler, R.D. Campbell, P. Carninci, S. Cawley, F. Chiaromonte, A.T. Chinwalla, D.M. Church, M. Clamp, C. Clee, F.S. Collins, L.L. Cook, R.R. Copley, A. Coulson, O. Couronne, J. Cuff, V. Curwen, T. Cutts, M. Daly, R. David, J. Davies, K.D. Delehaunty, J. Deri, E.T. Dermitzakis, C. Dewey, N.J. Dickens, M. Diekhans, S. Dodge, I. Dubchak, D.M. Dunn, S.R. Eddy, L. Elnitski, R.D. Emes, P. Eswara, E. Eyras, A. Felsenfeld, G.A. Fewell, P. Flicek, K. Foley, W.N. Frankel, L.A. Fulton, R.S. Fulton, T.S. Furey, D. Gage, R.A. Gibbs, G. Glusman, S. Gnerre, N. Goldman, L. Goodstadt, D. Grafham, T.A. Graves, E.D. Green, S. Gregory, R. Guigo, M. Guyer, R.C. Hardison, D. Haussler, Y. Hayashizaki, L.W. Hillier, A. Hinrichs, W. Hlavina, T. Holzer, F. Hsu, A. Hua, T. Hubbard, A. Hunt, I. Jackson, D.B. Jaffe, L.S. Johnson, M. Jones, T.A. Jones, A. Joy, M. Kamal, E.K. Karlsson, D. Karolchik, A. Kasprzyk, J. Kawai, E. Keibler, C. Kells, W.J. Kent, A. Kirby, D.L. Kolbe, I. Korf, R.S. Kucherlapati, E.J. Kulbokas, D. Kulp, T. Landers, J.P. Leger, S. Leonard, I. Letunic, R. Levine, J. Li, M. Li, C. Lloyd, S. Lucas, B. Ma, D.R. Maglott, E.R. Mardis, L. Matthews, E. Mauceli, J.H. Mayer, M. McCarthy, W.R. McCombie, S. McLaren, K. McLay, J.D. McPherson, J. Meldrim, B. Meredith, J.P. Mesirov, W. Miller, T.L. Miner, E. Mongin, K.T. Montgomery, M. Morgan, R. Mott, J.C. Mullikin, D.M. Muzny, W.E. Nash, J.O. Nelson, M.N. Nhan, R. Nicol, Z. Ning, C. Nusbaum, O(Connor M.J., Y. Okazaki, K. Oliver, E. Overton-Larty, L. Pachter, G. Parra, K.H. Pepin, J. Peterson, P. Pevzner, R. Plumb, C.S. Pohl, A. Poliakov, T.C. Ponce, C.P. Ponting, S. Potter, M. Quail, A. Reymond, B.A. Roe, K.M. Roskin, E.M. Rubin, A.G. Rust, R. Santos, V. Sapojnikov, B. Schultz, J. Schultz, M.S. Schwartz, S. Schwartz, C. Scott, S. Seaman, S. Searle, T. Sharpe, A. Sheridan, R. Shownkeen, S. Sims, J.B. Singer, G. Slater, A. Smit, D.R. Smith, B. Spencer, A. Stabenau, N. Stange-Thomann, C. Sugnet, M. Suyama, G. Tesler, J. Thompson, D. Torrents, E. Trevaskis, J. Tromp, C. Ucla, A. Ureta-Vidal, J.P. Vinson, A. Von, C. Niederhausern, C.M. Wade, M. Wall, R.J. Weber, R.B. Weiss, M.C. Wendl, A.P. West, K. Wetterstrand, R. Wheeler, S. Whelan, J. Wierzbowski, D. Willey, S. Williams, R.K. Wilson, E. Winter, K.C. Worley, D. Wyman, S. Yang, S.P. Yang, E.M. Zdobnov, M.C. Zody, E.S. Lander, Nature 420, 520–562 (2002)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. K. Cho, T. Pham, L. Adamson, D. Greenhalgh, J Surg Res 115, 318–324 (2003)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. K. Cho, L.K. Adamson, D.G. Greenhalgh, J Surg Res 104, 53–62 (2002)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. B. Conrad, R.N. Weissmahr, J. Boni, R. Arcari, J. Schupbach, B. Mach, Cell 90, 303–313 (1997)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. O. Frank, M. Giehl, C. Zheng, R. Hehlmann, C. Leib-Mosch, W. Seifarth, J Virol 79, 10890–10901 (2005)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. H. Karlsson, S. Bachmann, J. Schroder, J. McArthur, E.F. Torrey, R.H. Yolken, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 98, 4634–4639 (2001)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. N. Talal, R.F. Garry, P.H. Schur, S. Alexander, M.J. Dauphinee, I.H. Livas, A. Ballester, M. Takei, H. Dang, J Clin Invest 85, 1866–1871 (1990)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. H.B. Urnovitz, W.H. Murphy, Clin Microbiol Rev 9, 72–99 (1996)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. J.M. Antony, van G. Marle, W. Opii, D.A. Butterfield, F. Mallet, V.W. Yong, J.L. Wallace, R.M. Deacon, K. Warren, C. Power, Nat Neurosci 7, 1088–1095 (2004)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. P.E. Kowalski, J.D. Freeman, D.L. Mager, Genomics 57, 371–379 (1999)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. P.E. Kowalski, D.L. Mager, J Virol 72, 6164–6168 (1998)

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  14. D.L. Mager, D.G. Hunter, M. Schertzer, J.D. Freeman, Genomics 59, 255–263 (1999)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. C.P. Walsh, J.R. Chaillet, T.H. Bestor, Nat Genet 20, 116–117 (1998)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. J.A. Yoder, C.P. Walsh, T.H. Bestor, Trends Genet 13, 335–340 (1997)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. A. Nakamura, Y. Okazaki, J. Sugimoto, T. Oda, Y. **no, J Hum Genet 48, 575–581 (2003)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Y. Stauffer, S. Marguerat, F. Meylan, C. Ucla, N. Sutkowski, B. Huber, T. Pelet, B. Conrad, Immunity 15, 591–601 (2001)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. N. Sutkowski, B. Conrad, D.A. Thorley-Lawson, B.T. Huber, Immunity 15, 579–589 (2001)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. K. Cho, D. Greenhalgh, Virus Res 93, 189–198 (2003)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. K. Tomonaga, J.M. Coffin, J Virol 73, 4327–4340 (1999)

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  22. S. Kumar, K. Tamura, M. Nei, Brief Bioinform 5, 150–163 (2004)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. N. Saitou, M. Nei, Mol Biol Evol 4, 406–425 (1987)

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. K. Tomonaga, J.M. Coffin, J Virol 72, 8289–8300 (1998)

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  25. E.D. Sverdlov, Bioessays 22, 161–171 (2000)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. F. Harada, G.G. Peters, J.E. Dahlberg, J Biol Chem 254, 10979–10985 (1979)

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. K.N. Nikbakht, C.Y. Ou, L.R. Boone, P.L. Glover, W.K. Yang, J Virol 54, 889–893 (1985)

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  28. B. Weasner, C. Salzer, J.P. Kumar, Dev Biol 303, 756–771 (2007)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. D. Bornemann, E. Miller, J. Simon, Development 122, 1621–1630 (1996)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. R. Saiki, A. Nagata, T. Kainou, H. Matsuda, M. Kawamukai, FEBS J 272, 5606–5622 (2005)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. M. Huang, P. Jolicoeur, J Virol 64, 5764–5772 (1990)

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  32. S. Gayama, B.A. Vaupel, O. Kanagawa, Int Immunol 7, 861–868 (1995)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. M.A. Ramirez, E. Pericuesta, R. Fernandez-Gonzalez, P. Moreira, B. Pintado, A. Gutierrez-Adan, Reprod Biol Endocrinol 4, 55 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. J. Pothlichet, M. Mangeney, T. Heidmann, Int J Cancer 119, 1869–1877 (2006)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grants from Shriners of North America (No. 8680) and National Institutes of Health (R01 GM071360).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Pediatric Regenerative Medicine, Shriners Hospitals for Children Northern California and Department of Surgery, University of California, Davis, 2425 Stockton Blvd, Sacramento, CA, 95817, USA

    Deug-Nam Kwon, Sally Nguyen, Alex Chew, Karen Hsu, David Greenhalgh & Kiho Cho

Authors
  1. Deug-Nam Kwon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sally Nguyen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Alex Chew
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Karen Hsu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. David Greenhalgh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Kiho Cho
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kiho Cho.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kwon, DN., Nguyen, S., Chew, A. et al. Identification of putative endogenous retroviruses actively transcribed in the brain. Virus Genes 36, 439–447 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11262-008-0216-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11262-008-0216-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation