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MAMMALIAN ACQUISITIONS. "Here we describe the opposite situation, where a viral gene has been sequestered to serve an important function in the physiology of a mammalian host. This gene, encoding a protein that we have called syncytin, is the envelope gene of a recently identified human endogenous defective retrovirus, HERV-W2." https://lnkd.in/e9E9b8u View in LinkedIn

VIRAL ACQUISITIONS. "Many mammalian viruses have acquired genes from their hosts during their evolution. The rationale for these acquisitions is usually quite clear: the captured genes are subverted to provide a selective advantage to the virus." https://lnkd.in/e9E9b8u View in LinkedIn

PLACENTAL EVOLUTION. "Three distinct mechanisms have been proposed to mediate the evolution of new form, including changes in splicing isoforms, increased transcriptional regulatory complexity, and gene family expansion by duplication and divergence." https://lnkd.in/eN_bZTg View in LinkedIn

DOMESTICATED VIRAL GENES. "The placenta became a site where retroviral genes were ‘domesticated’ to serve adaptive functions in the host, including the manipulation of maternal physiology for the benefit of the fetus." https://lnkd.in/edp9HQZ View in LinkedIn

VIRAL GENE EXCHANGE. "Retroviruses are often expressed in the placenta. Placental expression probably evolved to facilitate retroviral transmission from mother to offspring and from offspring to mother." https://lnkd.in/edp9HQZ View in LinkedIn

"ANCIENT GENES involved in growth and metabolism were co-opted for use during early embryogenesis, likely enabling the accelerated development of extraembryonic tissues. Recently duplicated genes are utilized at later stages of placentation to meet the metabolic needs of a diverse range of pregnancy physiologies. Together, these mechanisms served to develop the specialized placenta, a novel structure that led to expansion of the eutherian mammal, including humankind." https://lnkd.in/eN_bZTg View in LinkedIn

BORROWED GENES. "About 3000 genes are specifically expressed in eutherian placentas, associated with gene duplications, specifically expressed genes, and a high percentage of retroviral genes adapted for placental functions." https://lnkd.in/edVs2NW View in LinkedIn

ANTI-VIRAL. "Expressed HERVs may block infectious retroviruses, thus protecting the growing fetus from exogenous retroviruses that could possibly be transferred from the maternal blood." https://lnkd.in/bNEJmbG View in LinkedIn

PLACENTAL PLASTICITY. "The placental system and the fetal membranes evolved an astonishing complexity and diversity following the radiation of placental mammals. This plasticity may have been driven by evolutionary intraspecies tensions between the mother and the fetus and the involved genes. Likely, such tensions resulted in a field of opposing processes between the parent and offspring." https://lnkd.in/edVs2NW View in LinkedIn

SELF/NON-SELF. "Another postulated beneficial role of HERV-encoded Env proteins is their involvement in suppressing possible maternal immunological reactions against the fetus based on the immunosuppressive activity characteristic of retroviral Env proteins." http://jvi.asm.org/content/79/1/341.full View in LinkedIn