Host-retrovirus arms race: trimming the budget.
In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, OhAinle et al., 2008 report that APOBEC3H, a potent innate retroviral restriction factor in primates, lost its function twice independently during recent evolution in humans, stressing an ever present trade-off between benefit and cost of protection against pathogens.
Jern
Patric
P
Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology, Tufts University School of Medicine, 136 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA 02111, USA.
Coffin
John M
JM
D000619:Aminohydrolases; D000818:Animals; D044966:Anti-Retroviral Agents / Q000378:metabolism*; D043525:Cytosine Deaminase / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D006801:Humans; D011323:Primates / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
D044966:Anti-Retroviral Agents; C529313:APOBEC3H protein, human; D000619:Aminohydrolases; D043525:Cytosine Deaminase