Status of HERV in human cells: expression and coding capacity of human proviruses.
Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) comprise a significant portion of the human genome. They are expressed in a variety of human tissues and some encode intact retroviral proteins. HERV expression seems to be upregulated in certain tissues and tumour types. The HERV-K(HML-2) family is an important exception from the vast majority of defective HERVs in that it encodes all essential retroviral proteins and functional enzymes, respectively. Furthermore, several intact HERV-K(HML-2) gag and env genes as well as an almost intact HERV-K(HML-2) provirus could be demonstrated within the human genome. However, none of the HERVs described so far seems to produce infectious virus.
Mayer
J
J
University of Pennsylvania, Department of Genetics, Philadelphia 19104, USA.
D003673:Defective Viruses / Q000235:genetics*; D020077:Endogenous Retroviruses / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D011533:Proviruses / Q000235:genetics*