Enhancer activity of solitary long terminal repeat of the human endogenous retrovirus of the HERV-K family

The transient expression of the luciferase reporter gene helped us to detect a tissue-specific enhancer activity of the solitary extraviral long terminal repeat (LTR) of the human endogenous retrovirus K (HERV-K). The LTR was previously mapped to the 19q13.2 locus. It contains a number of potential regulatory elements including TATA box, binding sites for some nuclear factors, and a polyadenylation signal. However, an analysis of the genomic sequences close to the LTR did not reveal any known genes or the expressing marker sequences (EST), whose functioning could be regulated by this LTR. The enhancer activity can be preserved in the solitary LTR due to its involvement in a long-range control of genome functioning or by the absence of functional disruptive mutations within the human-specific LTR, because it is of a relatively young evolutionary age. The English version of the paper: Russian Journal of Bioorganic Chemistry, 2002, vol. 28, no. 4; see also http://www.maik.ru.