title: Expression and cytoplasmic localisation of deoxyuridine triphosphate pyrophosphatase encoded by a human endogenous retrovirus.
abstract: Many lentiviruses encode a dUTPase which may protect against toxic misincorporation of dUTP into cDNA during reverse transcription. However, the primate lentiviruses HIV and SIV do not express a dUTPase. Significantly, the host genomes of these lentiviruses contain a multicopy endogenous retrovirus which is absent in non-primate genomes. In humans, this endogenous retrovirus is known as HERV-K and encodes a potential dUTPase sequence. Previously, we have suggested that HIV infection is complemented by a cytosolic dUTPase derived from the dUTPase gene encoded by HERV-K. This study demonstrates expression of HERV-K dUTPase transcripts and protein in human cell lines using RT-PCR and western blot analysis. Immunocytochemistry showed that HERV-K dUTPase was predominantly located in cell cytoplasm when transiently expressed in COS-1 cells. These data provide substantiation and support for the hypothesis above and is the first documentation of expression of an enzyme of nucleotide metabolism expressed by an endogenous retrovirus.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Molecular and Cellular Biology, Department of Microbiology, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: McIntosh
authors.forename: G E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Muscat
mesh_terms: D015153:Blotting, Western; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000201:enzymology*; D020077:Endogenous Retroviruses / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D019169:Jurkat Cells; D011755:Pyrophosphatases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral; D011755:Pyrophosphatases; C020020:dUTP pyrophosphatase