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Science 22 June 2007:
Vol. 316. no. 5832, pp. 1756 - 1758
DOI: 10.1126/science.1140579
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Reports

Restriction of an Extinct Retrovirus by the Human TRIM5{alpha} Antiviral Protein

Shari M. Kaiser,1,2 Harmit S. Malik,3 Michael Emerman2,3*

Primate genomes contain a large number of endogenous retroviruses and encode evolutionarily dynamic proteins that provide intrinsic immunity to retroviral infections. We report here the resurrection of the core protein of a 4-million-year-old endogenous virus from the chimpanzee genome and show that the human variant of the intrinsic immune protein TRIM5{alpha} can actively prevent infection by this virus. However, we suggest that selective changes that have occurred in the human lineage during the acquisition of resistance to this virus, and perhaps similar viruses, may have left our species more susceptible to infection by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1).

1 Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
2 Division of Human Biology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA.
3 Division of Basic Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: memerman{at}fhcrc.org

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)