New evidence of battle between humans and ancient virus

July 22, 2008

For millennia, humans and viruses have been locked in an evolutionary back-and-forth -- one changes to outsmart the other, prompting the second to change and outsmart the first. With retroviruses, which work by inserting themselves into their host's DNA, the evidence remains in our genes. Last year, researchers at Rockefeller University and the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center brought an ancient retrovirus back to life and showed it could reproduce and infect human cells. Now, the same scientists have looked at the human side of the story and found evidence that our ancestors fought back against that virus with a defense mechanism our bodies still use today.

"This is the first time that we've been able to take an ancient retrovirus and analyze how it interacts with host defense mechanisms in the laboratory in the present day," says Paul Bieniasz, who is an associate professor and head of the Laboratory of Retrovirology at Rockefeller and a scientist at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center. Bieniasz and graduate student Youngnam Lee took their resurrected virus, called HERV-K, tested its strength against molecules involved in human antiviral defense and published their results in the Journal of Virology (online ahead of print, June 18).

Bieniasz, who also is an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Lee found that, at least in the laboratory, human cells infected with HERV-K fought back with several antiviral proteins. One of those proteins, called APOBEC3G, leaves a tell-tale signature behind: It mutates virus DNA in a recognizable pattern and is one our cells use to attack modern retroviruses. "But this is the first time it's been shown for this ancient retrovirus," Bieniasz says.

Once the scientists found that modern human cells attacked HERV-K with this molecule, they went back to look at the "fossil evidence," remnants of the virus that still remain in our genes and that the researchers had previously used to reconstruct it. What emerged were two copies of HERV-K that had clearly been mutated, and thus inactivated, by the APOBEC3G protein. "We're looking at things that happened millions and millions of years ago," says Lee. "But these sorts of ancient interactions may have influenced how humans are able to combat these retroviruses today. These proteins help protect us against current retroviruses." Indeed, HERV-K may well have helped to shape the modern APOBEC3G defense.

The earlier study and this one provide two sides of the evolutionary coin: the infectious agent, and the host defense. "Retroviruses are able to infect us and leave remnants in our DNA, and our DNA also holds evidence of what we've done to them in return," Lee says. "It's an illustration of the fight between host and virus."

Rockefeller University

---

---

	Virus by Random Ax Media When struggling Ethics Detective Asher Fox gets a contract to do some research for a client, he stumbles onto a dark secret in the global pharmaceuticals industry. With cohorts Cal West and Windsor Obili, he gets swept up into a dangerous international web of spin and counter spin, involving big business, the White House and US foreign policy, the HIV-AIDS epidemic, media politics, a major charity, an African government, thousands of hapless Africans and the Israel/Palestine dispute. Championed by a sympathetic newspaper editor, the trio become headline news and the target for the deadly intentions of the world’s most powerful figures. Virus touches on issues of politics, business, ethics and justice and asks questions about how we might approach the examined life in...
	After the Virus by Old Man in the CrossWalk Productions “Deftly mixing post-apocalyptic survivor thriller tropes with a wickedly morbid sense of humor, Meghan Ciana Doidge's "After the Virus" manages to be both the funniest and most kick-ass action/adventure narrative I've read in ages.” - Scott F Gray, After The Virus - Amazon Review "There are worse things than Zombies and they walk by us everyday." - Mark McLeod, After The Virus, Amazon Review A “final show-down with an evil expertly crafted to make you wince and shudder.” - R. Jones, After The Virus, Amazon Review After the virus decimates 99.9% of the world’s population, and all traces of humanity along with it, Rhiannon and Will are forced to move beyond their past fame, fortune, and personal demons to rescue a mute girl...
	The Invisible Enemy: A Natural History of Viruses by Dorothy Crawford (Author) Here is a compelling scientific account of viruses, their history, and the dangers they pose--now and in the future. Viruses are disarmingly small and simple. Nevertheless, the smallpox virus killed over 300 million people in the twentieth century before it was eradicated in 1980. The AIDS virus, HIV, is now the world's biggest killer infection and the single most common cause of death in Africa. In recent years, the outbreaks of several lethal viruses such as Ebola and Hantavirus have caused great public concern--yet most people remain woefully ill-informed. In this fascinating new book, Dorothy Crawford explains lucidly and accessibly all aspects of the natural history of these deadly parasites and discusses controversial subjects such as CFS and Gulf War Syndrome. The book...
	Zomboro Virus by Brenda Dyer Major Trevor Dyer got his wish. While playing zombie video games as a teenager, he'd dreamed of a zombie apocalypse. Years later, the game he loved became reality. The United Nations created the Zomboro Virus to aid in the war on terrorism. But it backfired. The world was now crawling with flesh eating zombies. As Trevor and his team fight to rid the planet of the undead, his brother and famed Scientist, Dr. Tyler Dyer scrambles to find a cure before darkness and terror win.
	A Planet of Viruses by Carl Zimmer (Author) Viruses are the smallest living things known to science, yet they hold the entire planet in their sway. We are most familiar with the viruses that give us colds or the flu, but viruses also cause a vast range of other diseases, including one disorder that makes people sprout branch-like growths as if they were trees. Viruses have been a part of our lives for so long, in fact, that we are actually part virus: the human genome contains more DNA from viruses than our own genes. Meanwhile, scientists are discovering viruses everywhere they look: in the soil, in the ocean, even in caves miles underground.This fascinating book explores the hidden world of viruses—a world that we all inhabit. Here Carl Zimmer, popular science writer and author of Discover magazine’s award-winning blog The...
	Viruses, Plagues, and History: Past, Present and Future by Michael B. A. Oldstone M.D. (Author) The story of viruses and humanity is a story of fear and ignorance, of grief and heartbreak, and of great bravery and sacrifice. Michael Oldstone tells all these stories as he illuminates the history of the devastating diseases that have tormented humanity, focusing mostly on the most famous viruses. Oldstone begins with smallpox, polio, and measles. Nearly 300 million people were killed by smallpox in this century alone and the author presents a vivid account of the long campaign to eradicate this lethal killer. Oldstone then describes the fascinating viruses that have captured headlines in more recent years: Ebola, Hantavirus, mad cow disease (a frightening illness made worse by government mishandling and secrecy), and, of course, AIDS. And he tells us of the many scientists...
	The Tilian Virus: Book One of The Pandemic Sequence (Volume 1) by Tom Calen (Author) The virus spread quicker than anyone could have imagined. Within days, over half the world's population became infected. Now a small band of survivors, led by high school teacher Mike Allard, must learn to live in a world ravaged by the deadly victims of the Tilian Virus. Weaving together two separate time frames, The Tilian Virus is a tale of humankind's most dire hour. Faced with imminent elimination, humanity's last glimmers struggle to break through the darkness of a pandemic the world has never before experienced.
	How Pathogenic Viruses Work by Lauren Sompayrac (Author) More than 50 viruses can cause human disease, and textbooks are packed with facts about these viruses and the diseases they cause. Indeed, digesting this wealth of information can be daunting both for students and for professors. In How Pathogenic Viruses Work, the author reveals that the key to understanding this complex subject is to recognize that every virus must solve three basic problems: how to reproduce within the cells of its infected host, how to evade host defenses, and how to spread to a new host. Moreover, once the way a virus solves these problems is known, the pathological consequences of the viral infection can be predicted. To demonstrate the power of this approach, the author analyzes a dozen common human viruses, how they solve these problems, and what the resultant...
	Viruses: A Very Short Introduction by Dorothy H. Crawford (Author) In recent years, the world has witnessed dramatic outbreaks of such dangerous viruses such as HIV, Hanta, swine flu, SARS, and Lassa fever. In this Very Short Introduction, eminent biologist and popular science writer Dorothy Crawford offers a fascinating portrait of these infinitesimally small but often highly dangerous creatures. Crawford first relates how viruses were discovered and she unravels the intricate structures of tiny parasites that are by far the most abundant life forms on the planet. Analyzing the threat of viral infections, Crawford recounts stories of renowned killer viruses such as Ebola and rabies as well as the less known bat-borne Nipah and Hendra viruses. She identifies wild animals as the source of the most recent pandemics, detailing the reasons behind the present...
	The Armageddon Virus by E. Richard Jodoin (Author) A biological attack is launched against the United States. The virus quickly encompasses the rest of the world within its deadly clutches. The United States government tries desperately to maintain control of the deadly plague that has been unleashed on the world. Government procedures designed to deal with this type of terrorist attack quickly prove to be almost useless when confronted with the reality of a virus that has a 95 percent kill rate. As key people begin to die what will stop humanity from complete annihilation? Or is it already too late to stop humanity from descending into another dark age and civilization as we know it from disappearing? Jerry Hotchkin was an obscure government analyst who now has been thrust into the spotlight for discovering the plot. Can he now use his...