A rare event of insertion polymorphism of a HERV-K LTR in the human genome |
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Authors: | Mamedov I Lebedev Y Hunsmann G Khusnutdinova E Sverdlov E |
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Affiliation: | Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 16/10 Miklukho-Maklaya, 117997 Moscow, Russia. Imam@humgen.siobc.ras.ru |
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Abstract: | Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs), which constitute a significant part of the human genome, might have a serious impact on primate evolution. Over a hundred insertions of HERV-K(HML-2) family members distinguish the human genome from other primate genomes. However, only three cases of insertion polymorphisms have been reported so far, all for endogenous HERV-K proviruses. This suggests that some retroviral integrations occurred rather recently in human genome evolution. In this report, we describe a very rare case of true insertion polymorphism of a solitary HERV-K LTR in the human genome. Distribution of the LTR-containing allele was tested in 5 Africans and 83 individuals from three Russian populations. The allele frequency appeared to be relatively high in populations of both European and Asian origin. The detected polymorphic LTR could be a useful molecular genetic marker of the corresponding genomic region. |
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