Broad-scale in silico assessment retroviral exaptated gene : syncytin

• Syncytin is a fossil protein exapted from retroviruses that fulfills a pivotal role during trophoblast implantation and placental metabolite exchange. However, little is yet known about the distribution of syncytin across vertebrates. Here, we searched a library of more than 150 high-quality assemblies across 17 taxonomical orders for syncytin homologs. We identified and syntenically aligned over 300 loci insertions, including not previously known insertions. Additionally, we predicted the tridimensional structures of the recover sequences using AlphaFold2. Sequence conservation and phylogenomics analyses suggest a complex dynamic of multiple retroviral insertions at different time points with sequence conservation specific to clades that share a similar histo-physiological placental type. This research has widened our knowledge about the physiology of placentation through a better understanding of the evolutionary role of syncytin.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Bioinformatik och systembiologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Bioinformatics and Systems Biology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Bioinformatics

Bioinformatik

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

ovr (subject category)