title: Identification and molecular characterization of PERV gamma1 long terminal repeats.
abstract: Porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERVs) gamma1 in the pig genome have the potential to act as harmful factors in xenotransplantation (pig-to-human). Long terminal repeats (LTRs) are known to be strong promoter elements that could control the transcription activity of PERV elements and the adjacent functional genes. To investigate the transcribed PERV gamma1 LTR elements in pig tissues, bioin-formatic and experimental approaches were conducted. Using RT-PCR amplification and sequencing approaches, 69 different transcribed LTR elements were identified. And 69 LTR elements could be divided into six groups (15 subgroups) by internal variation including tandem repeated sequences, insertion and deletion (INDEL). Remarkably, all internal variations were indentified in U3 region of LTR elements. Taken together, the identification and characterization of various PERV LTR transcripts allow us to extend our knowledge of PERV and its transcriptional study.
authors.affiliation: Division of Biological Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Pusan National University, Busan, 609-735, Korea.
authors.forename: Jae-Won
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Huh
authors.forename: Dae-Soo
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hong-Seok
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Ha
authors.forename: Kung
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.forename: Kyu-Tae
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Byung-Wook
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Heui-Soo
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D020077:Endogenous Retroviruses / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D034421:Sus scrofa / Q000235:genetics* / Q000821:virology*; D020079:Terminal Repeat Sequences / Q000235:genetics*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic