Endogenous retroviruses: acquisition, amplification and taming of genome invaders

M Dewannieux, T Heidmann - Current opinion in virology, 2013 - Elsevier
Highlights•Endogenous retroviruses as remnants of ancestral germline infections.•Ongoing
endogenisation of infectious retroviruses reported in some mammals.•Possible evolution
towards an intracellular replicative cycle.•Multiple mechanisms controlling the activity of
these elements in vivo.Endogenous retroviruses are interspersed genomic elements that
were generated after infectious retroviruses entered the germline of their host. They were
initially identified as degenerate remnants of past infections, but new models of very recent …