Restriction of an Extinct Retrovirus by the Human TRIM5α Antiviral Protein
2007; American Association for the Advancement of Science; Volume: 316; Issue: 5832 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1126/science.1140579
ISSN1095-9203
AutoresShari M. Kaiser, Harmit S. Malik, Michael Emerman,
Tópico(s)interferon and immune responses
ResumoPrimate genomes contain a large number of endogenous retroviruses and encode evolutionarily dynamic proteins that provide intrinsic immunity to retroviral infections. We report here the resurrection of the core protein of a 4-million-year-old endogenous virus from the chimpanzee genome and show that the human variant of the intrinsic immune protein TRIM5alpha can actively prevent infection by this virus. However, we suggest that selective changes that have occurred in the human lineage during the acquisition of resistance to this virus, and perhaps similar viruses, may have left our species more susceptible to infection by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1).
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