• Journal of Life Science
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.291-297
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• 2003

A human endogenous retroviral family (HERV-W) has recently been described that is related to multiple sclerosis-associated retrovirus (MSRV) sequences that have been identified in particles recovered from monocyte cultures from patients with multiple sclerosis. Two pol fragments (HWP-FB10 and HWP-FBl2) of HERV-W family were identified and analysed by the PCR approach with cDNA library of human fetal brain. They showed 89 percent nucleotide sequence similarity with that of the HERV-W (accession no. AF009668). Deletion/insertion or point mutation in the coding region of the pol fragments from human fetal brain resulted in amino acid frameshift that induced a mutated protein. Phylogenetic analysis of the HERV-W family from GenBank database indicates that the HWP-FB10 is very closely related to the AC000064 derived from human chromosome 7q21-q22. Further studies on the genetic relationship with neighbouring genes and functional role of these new HERV-W pol sequences are indicated.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.133-141
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• 2005

Most of the endogenous retroviral genes integrated into the primate genome after the split of New World monkeys in the Oligocene era, approximately 33 million years ago. Because they can change the structure of adjacent genes and move between and within chromosomes they may play important roles in evolutionas well as in many kinds of disease and the creation of genetic polymorphism. Comparative analysis of HERVs (human endogenous retroviruses) and their LTR (long terminal repeat) elements in the primate genomes will help us to understand the possible impact of HERV elements in the evolution and phylogeny of primates. For example, HERV-K LTR and SINE-R elements have been identified that have been subject to recent change in the course of primate evolution. They are specific elements to the human genome and could be related to biological function. The HERV-M element is related to the superfamily of HERV-K and is integrated into the periphilin gene as the truncated form, 5'LTR-gag-pol-3'LTR. PCR and RT-PCR approaches indicated that the insertion of various retrotransposable elements in a common ancestor genome may make different transcript variants in different primate species. Examination of the HERV-W elementrevealed that env fragments were detected on human chromosomes 1, 3-7, 12, 14, 17, 20, and X, whilst the pol fragments were detected on human chromosomes 2-8, 10-15, 20, 21, X, and Y. Bioinformatic blast search showed that almost full-length of the HERV-W family was identified on human chromosomes 1-8, 11-15, 17, 18, 21, and X. Expression analysis of HERV-W genes (gag, pol, and env) in human tissues by RT-PCR indicated that gag and pol were expressed in specific tissues, whilst env was constituitively expressed in all tissues examined. DNA sequence based phylogenetic analysis indicated that the gag, pol and env genes have evolved independently during primate evolution. It will thus be of considerable interest to expand the current HERV gene information of various primates and disease tissues.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Life Science Conference
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• 2001.09a
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• pp.98-98
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• 2001

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Life Science Conference
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• 2002.03a
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• pp.114-114
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• 2002

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.107-114
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• 1999

To assess genetic diversity amoug 21 strains from sixleen Frrsn~i~nn species , we used RAPD(rando1n amplified pol.ymorphic DNA) analysis based on PCR(po1ymerase chain reaction). Eleven primers showing Ule polymorphism were chosen from the 40 random pnmers-tcstcd. A total of 263 polymorphic bands were generated by the primers and the size of amplified DNA fragments ranged from 0.1 lo 3.0 kb. Sirnilku-it), coefficients between strains were calcnlatcd, and UPGMA cluster analysis was used to generate a dendrogram showing relationships among them. The results from RAPD-PCR analysis were grouped into four main groups at the si~nilarity level of 0.627.