Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · View the paper (DOI)
Scientists found that an ancient and unrelated endogenous retroviral element is inserting itself into the new retrovirus via recombination, deactivating it. This process may be a molecular defense mechanism of hosts against new retroviral attacks.
Coverage from 2 institutions
- Ancient virus defends koalas against new viral attacks University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences · Aug 6, 2018 · first to report
- Koala virus could explain why humans have 'junk' DNA University of Queensland · Aug 7, 2018