A novel class III endogenous retrovirus with a class I envelope gene in African frogs with an intact genome and developmentally regulated transcripts in Xenopus tropicalis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Retroviruses exist as exogenous infectious agents and as endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) integrated into host chromosomes. Such endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are grouped into three classes roughly corresponding to the seven genera of infectious retroviruses: class I (gamma-, epsilonretroviruses), class II (alpha-, beta-, delta-, lentiretroviruses) and class III (spumaretroviruses). Some ERVs have counterparts among the known infectious retroviruses, while others represent paleovirological relics of extinct or undiscovered retroviruses.

Results

Here we identify an intact ERV in the Anuran amphibian, Xenopus tropicalis. XtERV-S has open reading frames (ORFs) for gag, pol (polymerase) and env (envelope) genes, with a small additional ORF in pol and a serine tRNA prim

SUBMITTER: Yedavalli VRK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8278194 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature