Formation of a new solo-LTR of the human endogenous retrovirus H family in human chromosome 21.
Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) contribute to various kinds of genomic instability via rearrangement and retrotransposition events. In the present study the formation of a new human-specific solo-LTR belonging to the HERV-H family (AP001667; chromosome 21q21) was detected by a comparative analysis of human chromosome 21 and chimpanzee chromosome 22. The solo-LTR was formed as a result of an equal homologous recombination excision event. Several evolutionary processes have occurred at this locus during primate evolution, indicating that mammalian-wide interspersed repeat (MIR) and full-length HERV-H elements integrated into hominoid genomes after the divergence of Old World monkeys and hominoids, and that the solo-LTR element was created by recombination excision of the HERV-H only in the human genome.
Huh
Jae-Won
JW
Division of Biological Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Pusan National University, Busan 609-735, Korea.
Kim
Dae-Soo
DS
Ha
Hong-Seok
HS
Kim
Tae-Hong
TH
Kim
Wook
W
Kim
Heui-Soo
HS
D000818:Animals; D002891:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 21; D020077:Endogenous Retroviruses / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006801:Humans; D002679:Pan troglodytes; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D020079:Terminal Repeat Sequences