ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2012
Env-less endogenous retroviruses are genomic superspreaders.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 82 papers.
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Who cites it
82 citing papers in PubMed, 136 citations in OpenAlex.
- Co-evolving infectivity and expression patterns drive the diversification of endogenous retroviruses.The EMBO journal · 2026Article
- A comprehensive annotation of conserved protein domains in human endogenous retroviruses.NAR genomics and bioinformatics · 2026Article
- Transcriptome mining reveals diversity and evolution of circulating and endogenous amphibian retroviruses.Retrovirology · 2025Article
- Insertion of an invading retrovirus regulates a novel color trait in swordtail fish.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Endogenous Retroviruses in Host-Virus Coevolution: From Genomic Domestication to Functional Innovation.Genes · 2025Review
- Crossing Wallace's line: an evolutionarily young gibbon ape leukemia virus like endogenous retrovirus identified from the Philippine flying lemur (Cynocephalus volans).Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Further varieties of ancient endogenous retrovirus in human DNA.Mobile DNA · 2025Article
- Comparative Analysis of Active LTR Retrotransposons in Sunflower (International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- piRNA Defense Against Endogenous Retroviruses.Viruses · 2024Review
- Invasion and Amplification of Endogenous Retroviruses in Dasyuridae Marsupial Genomes.Molecular biology and evolution · 2024Article
- Comprehensive Identification and Characterization of HML-9 Group in Chimpanzee Genome.Viruses · 2024Article
- Different Host-Endogenous Retrovirus Relationships between Mammals and Birds Reflected in Genome-Wide Evolutionary Interaction Patterns.Genome biology and evolution · 2024Article
- Jump-starting life: balancing transposable element co-option and genome integrity in the developing mammalian embryo.EMBO reports · 2024Review
- Evolution and subfamilies of HERVL human endogenous retrovirus.Bioinformatics advances · 2024Article
- Envelope Recombination: A Major Driver in Shaping Retroviral Diversification and Evolution within the Host Genome.Viruses · 2023Review
- Analysis of PERV-C superinfection resistance using HA-tagged viruses.Retrovirology · 2023Article
- Co-option of endogenous retroviruses through genetic escape from TRIM28 repression.Cell reports · 2023Article
- The CERV protein of Cer1, a C. elegans LTR retrotransposon, is required for nuclear export of viral genomic RNA and can form giant nuclear rods.PLoS genetics · 2023Article
- The Immunological Conundrum of Endogenous Retroelements.Annual review of immunology · 2023Review
- Review
22 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) differ from typical retroviruses in being inherited through the host germline and therefore are a unique combination of pathogen and selfish genetic element. Some ERV lineages proliferate by infecting germline cells, as do typical retroviruses, whereas others lack the env gene required for virions to enter cells and thus behave like retrotransposons. We wished to know what factors determined the relative abundance of different ERV lineages, so we analyzed ERV loci recovered from 38 mammal genomes by in silico screening. By modeling the relationship between proliferation and replication mechanism in detail within one group, the intracisternal A-type particles (IAPs), and performing simple correlations across all ERV lineages, we show that when ERVs lose the env gene their proliferation within that genome is boosted by a factor of ∼30. We also show that ERV abundance follows the Pareto principle or 20/80 rule, with ∼20% of lineages containing 80% of the loci. This rule is observed in many biological systems, including infectious disease epidemics, where commonly ∼20% of the infected individuals are responsible for 80% of onward infection. We thus borrow simple epidemiological and ecological models and show that retrotransposition and loss of env is the trait that leads endogenous retroviruses to becoming genomic superspreaders that take over a significant proportion of their host's genome.
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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.