Scientists have learned that a protein called Hemo, made by a fetus and the placenta, is produced from viral DNA that entered our ancestors’ genomes 100 million years ago.
------------
In July, scientists reported that a strange protein courses through the veins of pregnant women.
No one is sure what it’s there for.
What makes this protein, called Hemo, so unusual is that it’s not made by the mother.
Instead, it is made in her fetus and in the placenta, by a gene that originally came from a virus that infected our mammalian ancestors more than 100 million years ago.
Hemo is not the only protein with such an alien origin:
Our DNA contains roughly 100,000 pieces of viral DNA.
Altogether, they make up about 8 percent of the human genome.
And scientists are only starting to figure out what this viral DNA is doing to us.
Posts: 6199 | From Brussels | Registered: Oct 2007
| IP: Logged |
Brussels
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 13480
'These findings show that this medically important group of viruses is at least up to half a billion years in age – far older than previously thought.
They date back to the origins of vertebrates, and this gives us the context in which we should consider their present-day activity and interactions with their hosts.
For example, we need to consider the adaptations that vertebrates have developed to combat viruses,
...and the corresponding viral countermeasures, as the product of a continuous arms race that stretches back hundreds of millions of years.
'Our inferred date of the origins of retroviruses coincides with the origins of adaptive immunity,
... and thus it is likely that retroviruses have played an important role in the emergence of this key tool in vertebrate antiviral defense.
As we understand the nature of the interaction between viruses and host immunity, we will be better placed to intervene in this delicately balanced arms race in order to develop novel treatments and interventions.
Posts: 6199 | From Brussels | Registered: Oct 2007
| IP: Logged |
The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit organization funded by individual donations. If you would like to support the Network and the LymeNet system of Web services, please send your donations to:
The
Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey 907 Pebble Creek Court,
Pennington,
NJ08534USA http://www.lymenet.org/
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
![[confused]](graemlins/confused.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic