…eliminated an ancient infection.
"Retroviruses, which include human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), are abundant in nature. Unlike other viruses, which do not usually leave a physical trace of their existence, retroviruses include a step in their life cycle where their genetic material is integrated into the genome of their host. This integration has created a genetic fossil record of extinct retroviruses that is preserved in the genomes of modern organisms.
Writing in the journal eLife, researchers from the Rockefeller University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), US, set out to discover how extinct viral lineages could have been eliminated. To do this, they analysed retroviral fossils left by human endogenous retrovirus T (HERV-T), which replicated in our primate ancestors for approximately 25 million years before it was eradicated about 11 million years ago.
Working with Robert Gifford from the University of Glasgow, the team first compiled a near-complete catalog of HERV-T fossils in old-world monkey and ape genomes. They then reconstructed the HERV-T retrovirus' outer envelope protein -- a type of protein that allows a virus particle to bind to cells and begin the viral replication cycle…"
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