Abstract
A new type C retrovirus-related endogenous pol sequence (ERV-FTD) found to be occasionally copackaged in retrovirus-like particles released by the human mammary carcinoma cell line T47D was used to screen a human genomic library (Seifarth W, Skladny H, Krieg-Schneider F, Reichert A, Hehlmann R, and LeibMösch C: J Virol 1995;69:6408–6416). The DNA sequence of one full-length clone now reveals a human endogenous proviral sequence (HERV) of 4190 bp in length comprising a 5 LTR (489 bp) and regions with 37 and 74% overall amino acid homology to RTVL-Ia gag and pol genes, respectively. About 35 related elements were found to be distributed on all human chromosomes except 16, 17, and Y. Sequence comparisons with Mo-M uLV and various type C-related HERVs suggest that despite a proline primer-binding site this novel HERV element, now named HERV-IP-T47D, can be assigned to one family together with known HERV-I elements. Phylogenetic analyses of 5 proviral and 25 solitary LTR sequences confirmed the existence of two distinct but closely related subgroups of the HERV-IP superfamily in the primate genome. In contrast to most known HERV-families, the evolutionary age of HERV-IP elements dates back prior to the divergence of New and Old World monkeys. Despite their old age, members of the HERV-IP family are still transcriptionally active and were found to be highly expressed in specific human tissues such as liver and kidney.
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