Skip Navigation


MBE Advance Access originally published online on July 14, 2004
Molecular Biology and Evolution 2004 21(10):1895-1901; doi:10.1093/molbev/msh206
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
21/10/1895    most recent
msh206v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (14)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Bonnaud, B.
Right arrow Articles by Mallet, F.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Bonnaud, B.
Right arrow Articles by Mallet, F.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Molecular Biology and Evolution vol. 21 no. 10 © Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution 2004; all rights reserved.

Research Article

Evidence of Selection on the Domesticated ERVWE1 env Retroviral Element Involved in Placentation

Bertrand Bonnaud*, Olivier Bouton*, Guy Oriol*, Valérie Cheynet*, Laurent Duret{dagger} and François Mallet*

* UMR 2714 CNRS-bioMérieux IFR128 BioSciences Lyon-Gerland, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Lyon, France; and {dagger} Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive, UMR CUR 5558, Université Claude Bernard – Lyon 1, Lyon, France

E-mail: francois.mallet{at}ens-lyon.fr.

The human endogenous retrovirus HERV-W multicopy family includes a unique proviral locus, termed ERVWE1, which contains gag and pol pseudogenes and has retained a full-length envelope open reading frame (ORF). This Env protein (syncytin) is a highly fusogenic membrane glycoprotein and has been proposed to be involved in hominoid placental physiology. To track the hallmarks of natural selection acting on the ERVWE1 env gene, the pattern of substitutions and indels was analyzed within all human HERV-W elements and along the ERVWE1 orthologous loci in chimpanzee, gorilla, orangutan, and gibbon. The comparison of ERVWE1 and paralogous HERV-W copies revealed an ERVWE1-specific signature consisting of a four amino acid deletion in the intracytoplasmic tail of the glycoprotein. We show that this deletion is crucial for the envelope fusogenic activity. The comparison of the human ERVWE1 locus with its orthologs demonstrates the existence of a selective pressure to maintain the env reading frame open. Notably, the 3' part of the env gene, encoding regions required for the fusion process, is under purifying selection. The identification of selective constraints on env ERVWE1 confirms that this retroviral locus has been recruited in the hominoid lineage to become a bona fide gene.

Key Words: HERV-W • paralogous gene • orthologous gene • envelope • endogenous retrovirus • hominoid


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J HeredHome page
M. Caceres, NISC Comparative Sequencing Program, and J. W. Thomas
The Gene of Retroviral Origin Syncytin 1 is Specific to Hominoids and is Inactive in Old World Monkeys
J. Hered., March 1, 2006; 97(2): 100 - 106.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Biol. Reprod.Home page
K. A. Dunlap, M. Palmarini, D. L. Adelson, and T. E. Spencer
Sheep Endogenous Betaretroviruses (enJSRVs) and the Hyaluronidase 2 (HYAL2) Receptor in the Ovine Uterus and Conceptus
Biol Reprod, August 1, 2005; 73(2): 271 - 279.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 BloodHome page
F. Meylan, M. De Smedt, G. Leclercq, J. Plum, O. Leupin, S. Marguerat, and B. Conrad
Negative thymocyte selection to HERV-K18 superantigens in humans
Blood, June 1, 2005; 105(11): 4377 - 4382.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Virol.Home page
V. Cheynet, A. Ruggieri, G. Oriol, J.-L. Blond, B. Boson, L. Vachot, B. Verrier, F.-L. Cosset, and F. Mallet
Synthesis, Assembly, and Processing of the Env ERVWE1/Syncytin Human Endogenous Retroviral Envelope
J. Virol., May 1, 2005; 79(9): 5585 - 5593.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.