What is it about?
More endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are expressed in conceptuses during the periods of implantatiuon and placentation.
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Why is it important?
Retrovirus genes are actively integrated into the bovine genome as well as other placental mammals. Integration of these genes is accomplished rather in a short period of time, suggesting that placental mammals that could have used those new genes' functions may have survived or evolved as species.
Perspectives
Those genes, used to be called "junk", are no longer junk, rather those may have contributed to cell and structural evolution required for placental mammals.
Kazuhiko Imakawa
Kyushu Tokai University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Dynamic Evolution of Endogenous Retrovirus-Derived Genes Expressed in Bovine Conceptuses during the Period of Placentation, Genome Biology and Evolution, January 2013, Oxford University Press (OUP),
DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evt007.
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