ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2014
Retroviral envelope syncytin capture in an ancestrally diverged mammalian clade for placentation in the primitive Afrotherian tenrecs.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 43 papers.
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43 citing papers in PubMed, 67 citations in OpenAlex.
- An ancient alpharetrovirus lineage in bats: Evolutionary insights and possible roles in reproduction.PLoS genetics · 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
- Sex-specific expression and function of TRIM28 during mouse primordial germ differentiation.iScience · 2025Article
- Cell type and cell signalling innovations underlying mammalian pregnancy.Nature ecology & evolution · 2025Article
- Birth of protein-coding exons by ancient domestication of LINE-1 retrotransposon.Genome research · 2025Article
- Trophoblast Fusion in Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy and Preeclampsia.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Sodium-dependent phosphate transporter PiT1/SLC20A1 as the receptor for the endogenous retroviral envelope syncytin-B involved in mouse placenta formation.Journal of virology · 2024Article
- Expression and high levels of insertional polymorphism of an endogenous gammaretrovirus lineage in dogs.PLoS genetics · 2023Article
- Evolutionary conservation of an ancient retroviralJournal of virology · 2023Article
- Retrovirus-Derived RTL/SIRH: Their Diverse Roles in the Current Eutherian Developmental System and Contribution to Eutherian Evolution.Biomolecules · 2023Review
- A Frame-by-Frame Glance at Membrane Fusion Mechanisms: From Viral Infections to Fertilization.Biomolecules · 2023Review
- Dynamic Evolution of Retroviral Envelope Genes in Egg-Laying Mammalian Genomes.Molecular biology and evolution · 2023Article
- Cross-species transmission of an ancient endogenous retrovirus and convergent co-option of its envelope gene in two mammalian orders.PLoS genetics · 2022Article
- Review
- The Oldest Co-opted gag Gene of a Human Endogenous Retrovirus Shows Placenta-Specific Expression and Is Upregulated in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphomas.Molecular biology and evolution · 2021Article
- An ancient retroviral RNA element hidden in mammalian genomes and its involvement in co-opted retroviral gene regulation.Retrovirology · 2021Article
- Transposable elements shape the evolution of mammalian development.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2021Review
- Leftovers of viruses in human physiology.Brain structure & function · 2021Review
- Differential Expression Pattern of Retroviral Envelope Gene in the Equine Placenta.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 8 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Syncytins are fusogenic envelope (env) genes of retroviral origin that have been captured for a function in placentation. Syncytins have been identified in Euarchontoglires (primates, rodents, Leporidae) and Laurasiatheria (Carnivora, ruminants) placental mammals. Here, we searched for similar genes in species that retained characteristic features of primitive mammals, namely the Malagasy and mainland African Tenrecidae. They belong to the superorder Afrotheria, an early lineage that diverged from Euarchotonglires and Laurasiatheria 100 Mya, during the Cretaceous terrestrial revolution. An in silico search for env genes with full coding capacity within a Tenrecidae genome identified several candidates, with one displaying placenta-specific expression as revealed by RT-PCR analysis of a large panel of Setifer setosus tissues. Cloning of this endogenous retroviral env gene demonstrated fusogenicity in an ex vivo cell-cell fusion assay on a panel of mammalian cells. Refined analysis of placental architecture and ultrastructure combined with in situ hybridization demonstrated specific expression of the gene in multinucleate cellular masses and layers at the materno-fetal interface, consistent with a role in syncytium formation. This gene, which we named "syncytin-Ten1," is conserved among Tenrecidae, with evidence of purifying selection and conservation of fusogenic activity. To our knowledge, it is the first syncytin identified to date within the ancestrally diverged Afrotheria superorder.
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