ArticlePLoS pathogens2007
Reconstitution of an infectious human endogenous retrovirus.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 181 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
181 citing papers in PubMed, 308 citations in OpenAlex.
- The activity, divergence, and evolutionary degradation of modern-day homing endonucleases and behavior of their reconstructed ancestors.Nucleic acids research · 2026Article
- Crystal structure of HERV-K envelope glycoprotein surface subunit.Journal of virology · 2026Article
- Downregulation of miRNAs Accompanies Increased HERV-K (HML-2) Expression in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.Molecular neurobiology · 2026Article
- Review
- A comprehensive comparative genomic analysis of the endogenous Florendovirus-1 inFrontiers in plant science · 2026Article
- Article
- Human endogenous retrovirus K (HERV-K) envelope structures in pre- and postfusion by cryo-EM.Science advances · 2025Article
- Decitabine suppresses tumor growth by activating mouse mammary tumor virus and interferon-β pathways.Biomolecules & biomedicine · 2025Article
- Sequence Diversity and Encoded Enzymatic Differences of Monocistronic L1 ORF2 mRNA Variants in the Aged Normal and Alzheimer's Disease Brain.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Article
- Activation of human endogenous retroviruses by Sox proteins induces cell apoptosis via the caspase-3 pathway.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- Leveraging Synthetic Virology for the Rapid Engineering of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus (VSV).Viruses · 2024Article
- Virology-The next fifty years.Cell · 2024Article
- Review
- Article
- HIV-1 RNA in extracellular vesicles is associated with neurocognitive outcomes.Nature communications · 2024Article
- TDP-43 proteinopathy in ALS is triggered by loss of ASRGL1 and associated with HML-2 expression.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Human endogenous retrovirus type K encoded Np9 oncoprotein induces DNA damage response.Journal of medical virology · 2024Article
- Review
- HervD Atlas: a curated knowledgebase of associations between human endogenous retroviruses and diseases.Nucleic acids research · 2024Article
- Mechanistic regulation of HERV activation in tumors and implications for translational research in oncology.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2024Review
121 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The human genome represents a fossil record of ancient retroviruses that once replicated in the ancestors of contemporary humans. Indeed, approximately 8% of human DNA is composed of sequences that are recognizably retroviral. Despite occasional reports associating human endogenous retrovirus (HERV) expression with human disease, almost all HERV genomes contain obviously inactivating mutations, and none are thought to be capable of replication. Nonetheless, one family of HERVs, namely HERV-K(HML-2), may have replicated in human ancestors less than 1 million years ago. By deriving a consensus sequence, we reconstructed a proviral clone (HERV-KCON) that likely resembles the progenitor of HERV-K(HML-2) variants that entered the human genome within the last few million years. We show that HERV-KCON Gag and protease proteins mediate efficient assembly and processing into retrovirus-like particles. Moreover, reporter genes inserted into the HERV-KCON genome and packaged into HERV-K particles are capable of infectious transfer and stable integration in a manner that requires reverse transcription. Additionally, we show that HERV-KCON Env is capable of pseudotyping HIV-1 particles and mediating entry into human and nonhuman cell lines. Furthermore, we show that HERV-KCON is resistant to inhibition by the human retrovirus restriction factors tripartite motif 5alpha and apolipoprotein B mRNA-editing enzyme, catalytic polypeptide-like (APOBEC) 3G but is inhibited by APOBEC 3F. Overall, the resurrection of this extinct infectious agent in a functional form from molecular fossils should enable studies of the molecular virology and pathogenic potential of this ancient human retrovirus.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.