title: Viral sequence integration into introns of chemokine receptor genes.
abstract: Viral DNA sequences are able to integrate into the non-coding DNA sections of the genome of human cells which have been infected, either spontaneously or experimentally. We have made a data-base search for integration events of non-endogenous viruses into the introns of chemokine receptor sequences. A BLAST search of all viral DNA sequences, using the intronic sequences as "Query," returned several significant alignments. However, due to the high reiteration rate of the non-coding sequences in the human genome, it became necessary to re-examine the individual alignments to verify whether the virus-flanking intronic sequence was really located in a chemokine receptor intron. We found only one unquestionable event of viral insertion of a section of a long terminal repeat of the murine leukemia virus within the first intron of the CC chemokine receptor 7 gene. Possible biological effects of such an insertion are discussed. Further experimental or clinical research could demonstrate the occurrence of other intronic viral insertions in human chemokine receptor genes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Anatomy and Histology, University of Bari, Bari, Italy. ma.panaro@anatomia.uniba.it
authors.forename: Maria Antonietta
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Panaro
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Calvello
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lisi
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saccia
authors.forename: Carlo Ivan
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Mitolo
authors.forename: Antonia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cianciulli
mesh_terms: D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D005822:Genetic Vectors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007438:Introns / Q000235:genetics*; D009052:Leukemia Virus, Murine / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D019707:Receptors, Chemokine / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D016662:Virus Integration / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D019707:Receptors, Chemokine