ReviewPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2013
Paleovirology of 'syncytins', retroviral env genes exapted for a role in placentation.
Review in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 221 papers.
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Who cites it
221 citing papers in PubMed, 399 citations in OpenAlex.
- Endogenous retrovirus control of calbindin is essential for human early embryogenesis.Science advances · 2026Article
- The Transmembrane Envelope Protein of Porcine Endogenous Retroviruses Modulates Cytokine Release and Gene Expression in Human Immune Cells.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- [Nan fang yi ke da xue xue bao = Journal of Southern Medical University · 2026Article
- An ancient alpharetrovirus lineage in bats: Evolutionary insights and possible roles in reproduction.PLoS genetics · 2026Article
- Placental crises: disruptive selection and maternal under-investment as the foundations of mammalian placental evolution and dysfunction.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2026Review
- Virus-Derived Domesticated Genes in Microglia and Resident Macrophages: Insights into Placenta-Driven Evolution in Mammals.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Evolution ofInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
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- Evolutionary Dynamics of Endogenous Feline Leukemia Virus in the Felis Genus Through the Lens of Genomics.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2026Article
- The molecular evolution of vertebrate organs.Nature ecology & evolution · 2026Review
- Endogenous retroviral elements LTR8B and MER65 rewire PSG9 regulation to control trophoblast syncytialization and pre-eclampsia risk.Genome biology · 2026Article
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- The role of KRAB zinc-finger proteins in expanding the domestication potential of transposable elements.Nature genetics · 2026Review
- Tracing ancient viral footprints: a comprehensive study of endogenous viral elements in Bombus species.Mobile DNA · 2026Article
- Placenta-Driven Evolution: Viral Gene Acquisition andBiomolecules · 2026Review
- Viviparity and beyond: captured endogenous retroviral envelope genes drive teleost physiological innovations.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Alterations of placental HERV expression as a result of gestational COVID-19 disease.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- The human endogenous retroviral envelope HEMO protein interacts with BACE2: Novel partnership acquired in the primate lineage.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- ERV3-MLT1 provides cis-regulatory elements for human placental functioning and are commonly dysregulated in human-specific preeclampsia.Genome biology · 2025Article
161 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The development of the emerging field of 'paleovirology' allows biologists to reconstruct the evolutionary history of fossil endogenous retroviral sequences integrated within the genome of living organisms and has led to the retrieval of conserved, ancient retroviral genes 'exapted' by ancestral hosts to fulfil essential physiological roles, syncytin genes being undoubtedly among the most remarkable examples of such a phenomenon. Indeed, syncytins are 'new' genes encoding proteins derived from the envelope protein of endogenous retroviral elements that have been captured and domesticated on multiple occasions and independently in diverse mammalian species, through a process of convergent evolution. Knockout of syncytin genes in mice provided evidence for their absolute requirement for placenta development and embryo survival, via formation by cell-cell fusion of syncytial cell layers at the fetal-maternal interface. These genes of exogenous origin, acquired 'by chance' and yet still 'necessary' to carry out a basic function in placental mammals, may have been pivotal in the emergence of mammalian ancestors with a placenta from egg-laying animals via the capture of a founding retroviral env gene, subsequently replaced in the diverse mammalian lineages by new env-derived syncytin genes, each providing its host with a positive selective advantage.
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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.