ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2015
Retroviral envelope gene captures and syncytin exaptation for placentation in marsupials.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 88 papers.
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88 citing papers in PubMed, 147 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evolutionary co-option of endogenous retroviruses: syncytins as regulators of placental development and disease.Molecular biology reports · 2026Review
- An ancient alpharetrovirus lineage in bats: Evolutionary insights and possible roles in reproduction.PLoS genetics · 2026Article
- Beyond Genetic Conservation: The Baton Pass Model of Essential Biological Functions.Biomolecules · 2026Review
- Epigenetic Deregulation of Transposable Elements Links Developmental Processes and Tumorigenesis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- A comprehensive annotation of conserved protein domains in human endogenous retroviruses.NAR genomics and bioinformatics · 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
- Pathogen-Mediated Cell Fusion and Actin Cytoskeleton.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Endogenous retrovirus IAP forms virus-like particles and traffics across the maternal-fetal barrier.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 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
- "Arc - A viral vector of memory and synaptic plasticity".Current opinion in neurobiology · 2025Review
- 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
- Extant and extinct bilby genomes combined with Indigenous knowledge improve conservation of a unique Australian marsupial.Nature ecology & evolution · 2024Article
- Jump-starting life: balancing transposable element co-option and genome integrity in the developing mammalian embryo.EMBO reports · 2024Review
- Advances in genome sequencing reveal changes in gene content that contribute to arthropod macroevolution.Development genes and evolution · 2023Review
- Does the interplay between human endogenous retrovirus K and extracellular vesicles contribute to aging?Extracellular vesicles and circulating nucleic acids · 2023Article
- Syncytin-1, syncytin-2 and suppressyn in human health and disease.Journal of molecular medicine (Berlin, Germany) · 2023Review
- Progressive Exaptation of Endogenous Retroviruses in Placental Evolution in Cattle.Biomolecules · 2023Review
28 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
14 authors at 7 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Syncytins are genes of retroviral origin captured by eutherian mammals, with a role in placentation. Here we show that some marsupials-which are the closest living relatives to eutherian mammals, although they diverged from the latter ∼190 Mya-also possess a syncytin gene. The gene identified in the South American marsupial opossum and dubbed syncytin-Opo1 has all of the characteristic features of a bona fide syncytin gene: It is fusogenic in an ex vivo cell-cell fusion assay; it is specifically expressed in the short-lived placenta at the level of the syncytial feto-maternal interface; and it is conserved in a functional state in a series of Monodelphis species. We further identify a nonfusogenic retroviral envelope gene that has been conserved for >80 My of evolution among all marsupials (including the opossum and the Australian tammar wallaby), with evidence for purifying selection and conservation of a canonical immunosuppressive domain, but with only limited expression in the placenta. This unusual captured gene, together with a third class of envelope genes from recently endogenized retroviruses-displaying strong expression in the uterine glands where retroviral particles can be detected-plausibly correspond to the different evolutionary statuses of a captured retroviral envelope gene, with only syncytin-Opo1 being the present-day bona fide syncytin active in the opossum and related species. This study would accordingly recapitulate the natural history of syncytin exaptation and evolution in a single species, and definitely extends the presence of such genes to all major placental mammalian clades.
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