Bioscientifica Proceedings

Advances in the analyses of human and other higher eukaryotic genomes have disclosed a large fraction of the genetic material (ca 98%) which does not code for proteins. Major portion of this non-coding genome is in fact transcribed into an enormous repertoire of functional non coding RNA molecules (ncRNAs) rather than encoding any proteins. Recent fascinating and fast progress in bioinformatic, high-throughput sequencing and other biochemical approaches have fuelled rapid ...

Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are present in the genome of all vertebrates and are remnants of ancient exogenous retroviral infections of the host germline transmitted vertically from generation to generation. Sheep betaretroviruses offer a unique model system to study the complex interaction between retroviruses and their host. The sheep genome contains 27 endogenous betaretroviruses (enJSRVs) related to the exogenous and pathogenic Jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus (JSRV), the ca...