title: Transcription Profiling Demonstrates Epigenetic Control of Non-retroviral RNA Virus-Derived Elements in the Human Genome.
abstract: Endogenous bornavirus-like nucleoprotein elements (EBLNs) are DNA sequences in vertebrate genomes formed by the retrotransposon-mediated integration of ancient bornavirus sequence. Thus, EBLNs evidence a mechanism of retrotransposon-mediated RNA-to-DNA information flow from environment to animals. Although EBLNs are non-transposable, they share some features with retrotransposons. Here, to test whether hosts control the expression of EBLNs similarly to retrotransposons, we profiled the transcription of all Homo sapiens EBLNs (hsEBLN-1 to hsEBLN-7). We could detect transcription of all hsEBLNs in at least one tissue. Among them, hsEBLN-1 is transcribed almost exclusively in the testis. In most tissues, expression from the hsEBLN-1 locus is silenced epigenetically. Finally, we showed the possibility that hsEBLN-1 integration at this locus affects the expression of a neighboring gene. Our results suggest that hosts regulate the expression of endogenous non-retroviral virus elements similarly to how they regulate the expression of retrotransposons, possibly contributing to new transcripts and regulatory complexity to the human genome.
authors: Department of Viral Oncology, Institute for Virus Research, Kyoto University, 53 Kawahara-cho, Shogoin, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan.
authors: Kozue
authors: K
authors: Sofuku
authors: Department of Viral Oncology, Institute for Virus Research, Kyoto University, 53 Kawahara-cho, Shogoin, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan.
authors: Nicholas F
authors: NF
authors: Parrish
authors: Department of Viral Oncology, Institute for Virus Research, Kyoto University, 53 Kawahara-cho, Shogoin, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan. Electronic address: thonda@virus.kyoto-u.ac.jp.
authors: Tomoyuki
authors: T
authors: Honda
authors: Department of Viral Oncology, Institute for Virus Research, Kyoto University, 53 Kawahara-cho, Shogoin, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan. Electronic address: tomonaga@virus.kyoto-u.ac.jp.
authors: Keizo
authors: K
authors: Tomonaga
mesh_terms: D000107:Acetylation; D028981:Bornaviridae / Q000235:genetics; D002460:Cell Line; D019175:DNA Methylation; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005814:Genes, Viral; D015894:Genome, Human; D006657:Histones / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009698:Nucleoproteins / Q000235:genetics; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational; D018626:Retroelements; D059467:Transcriptome; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D006657:Histones; D009698:Nucleoproteins; D018626:Retroelements; D014764:Viral Proteins