New evidence of battle between humans and ancient virus
July 21, 2008For millennia, humans and viruses have been locked in an evolutionary back-and-forth -- one changes to outsmart the other, prompting the second to change and outsmart the first. With retroviruses, which work by inserting themselves into their host's DNA, the evidence remains in our genes.
Last year, researchers at Rockefeller University and the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center brought an ancient retrovirus back to life and showed it could reproduce and infect human cells. Now, the same scientists have looked at the human side of the story and found evidence that our ancestors fought back against that virus with a defense mechanism our bodies still use today.
"This is the first time that we've been able to take an ancient retrovirus and analyze how it interacts with host defense mechanisms in the laboratory in the present day," says Paul Bieniasz, who is an associate professor and head of the Laboratory of Retrovirology at Rockefeller and a scientist at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center. Bieniasz and graduate student Youngnam Lee took their resurrected virus, called HERV-K, tested its strength against molecules involved in human antiviral defense and published their results in the Journal of Virology (online ahead of print, June 18).
Bieniasz, who also is an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Lee found that, at least in the laboratory, human cells infected with HERV-K fought back with several antiviral proteins. One of those proteins, called APOBEC3G, leaves a tell-tale signature behind: It mutates virus DNA in a recognizable pattern and is one our cells use to attack modern retroviruses. "But this is the first time it's been shown for this ancient retrovirus," Bieniasz says.
Once the scientists found that modern human cells attacked HERV-K with this molecule, they went back to look at the "fossil evidence," remnants of the virus that still remain in our genes and that the researchers had previously used to reconstruct it. What emerged were two copies of HERV-K that had clearly been mutated, and thus inactivated, by the APOBEC3G protein. "We're looking at things that happened millions and millions of years ago," says Lee. "But these sorts of ancient interactions may have influenced how humans are able to combat these retroviruses today. These proteins help protect us against current retroviruses." Indeed, HERV-K may well have helped to shape the modern APOBEC3G defense.
The earlier study and this one provide two sides of the evolutionary coin: the infectious agent, and the host defense. "Retroviruses are able to infect us and leave remnants in our DNA, and our DNA also holds evidence of what we've done to them in return," Lee says. "It's an illustration of the fight between host and virus."
Source: Rockefeller University
-
Fruit flies drawn to the sweet smell of youth
13 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
-
Commonly used vitamin could help produce 'good' cholesterol, researchers find
11 hours ago |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
-
Explained: Sigma
10 hours ago |
5 / 5 (6) |
12
-
Big trees face 'dire future'
9 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
-
Australians risking skin cancer to avoid nanoparticles
8 hours ago |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
-
Fast photon control brings quantum photonic technologies closer
1 minute ago |
not rated yet |
0
-
Engineers build first sub-10-nm carbon nanotube transistor
Feb 01, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (33) |
30
-
Something old, something new: Evolution and the structural divergence of duplicate genes
Jan 31, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (7) |
1
-
The hidden nanoworld of ice crystals: Revealing the dynamic behavior of quasi-liquid layers
Jan 30, 2012 |
5 / 5 (5) |
1
-
Stock market network reveals investor clustering
Jan 27, 2012 |
3.9 / 5 (23) |
8
-
Is Everyday Technology Killing Us?
Feb 08, 2012
-
Exercise and weight loss
Feb 08, 2012
-
Why do we have head aches? Our brains can't feel anything.
Feb 07, 2012
-
"The end of diseases" by David Agus, interview from Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Feb 04, 2012
-
Oncolytic adenovirus
Feb 04, 2012
-
Nutrition label stuffs and diets
Feb 02, 2012
- More from Physics Forums - Medical Sciences
More news stories
Tenofovir, leading HIV medication, linked with risk of kidney damage
(Medical Xpress) -- Tenofovir, one of the most effective and commonly prescribed antiretroviral medications for HIV/AIDS, is associated with a significant risk of kidney damage and chronic kidney disease that increases over ...
Medicine & Health / Medications
1 hour ago |
not rated yet |
0
|
New tumor suppressor gene identified
A recent study published in Clinical Cancer Research suggests that the protein hVps37A suppresses tumor growth in ovarian cancer. The work, which was funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, shows, for th ...
43 minutes ago |
4 / 5 (1) |
0
Packard Children's has smallest child yet to get pacemaker
Jaya Maharaj was 15 minutes old when she was sent to surgery at Lucile Packard Childrens Hospital and given a pacemaker that saved her life. The tiny girl born nine weeks early, weighing 3.5 pounds, ...
Medicine & Health / Cardiology
26 minutes ago |
not rated yet |
0
Social psychologist: Lust makes you smarter and evidence that seven deadly sins are good for you
(Medical Xpress) -- Good news for lovers on Valentine’s Day - the seven deadly sins, including Lust, are good for you. University of Melbourne social psychologist Dr Simon Laham uses modern research to make a compelling ...
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
2 hours ago |
4.5 / 5 (2) |
0
Don't ignore kids' snores
(Medical Xpress) -- Your ears arent playing tricks on you that is the sound of snoring you hear from the bedroom of your preschooler. Snoring is common in children, but in some cases it can be a symptom of a ...
1 hour ago |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
Transforming galaxies
(PhysOrg.com) -- Many of the Universe's galaxies are like our own, displaying beautiful spiral arms wrapping around a bright nucleus. Examples in this stunning image, taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 on ...
'Smart' microcapsules in a single step
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new, single-step method of fabricating microcapsules, which have potential commercial applications in industries including medicine, agriculture and diagnostics, has been developed by researchers ...
A continent ablaze in auroral and manmade light
The North American continent is literally set ablaze in a confluence of Auroral and Manmade light captured in spectacular new videos snapped by the astronauts serving aboard the International Space Station ...
Ethanol mandate not the best option
Many people are willing to pay a premium for ethanol, but not enough to justify the government mandate for the corn-based fuel, a Michigan State University economist argues.
Nanostructured electrodes for rechargeable sodium-Ion batteries
Highly efficient 3V cathodes for rechargeable sodium-ion batteries have been developed by users from Argonne National Laboratory's Materials Science, Chemical Sciences & Engineering, and X-ray Sciences Divisions, ...
Jul 21, 2008
Rank: 4.5 / 5 (2)
Jul 21, 2008
Rank: not rated yet
Jul 21, 2008
Rank: 4 / 5 (1)
http://www.physor...794.html (comments)
By the way, if anyone's interested, "Darwin's Radio" by Greg Bear is a great story about a HERV that gets activated and infects humanity again.
Jul 21, 2008
Rank: not rated yet
Jul 21, 2008
Rank: not rated yet