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The expression and distribution of insertionally polymorphic endogenous retroviruses in canine cancer derived cell lines.

Jarosz, Abigail S

Abstract Details

2018, Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, Biological Sciences.
To our knowledge there are no current infectious retroviruses found in canines or wild canids. It has been previously thought that the canine reference genome consists only of about 0.15% of sequence of obvious retroviral origin, present as endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) within contemporary canids. In recent analyses of the canine reference genome, a few copies of ERVs were identified with features characteristic of recent integration, for example the presence of some ORFs and near-identical LTRs. Members of this group are referred to as CfERV-Fc1(a) and have been identified to have sequence similarity to the mammalian ERV-Fc/W groups. We have recently discovered and characterized a number of non-reference Fc1 copies in dogs and wild canids, and identified unexpectedly high levels of polymorphism among members of this ERV group. Some of the proviruses we have identified even possess complete or nearly intact open reading frames, identical LTRs, and derived phylogenetic clustering among other CfERV-Fc1(a) members. Based on LTR sequence divergence under an applied dog neutral mutation rate, it is thought these infections occurred within as recently as the last ~0.48 million years. There have been previous, but unsubstantiated, reports of reverse transcriptase activity as well as gamma-type C particles in tumor tissues of canines diagnosed with lymphoma. We hypothesize that expression of members of the CfERV-Fc1(a) lineage is responsible for those observations in canine cancers. We investigated the expression of individual proviruses in canine cancer cell lines, specifically the pol and env gene. There was expression of both genes in three canine-cancer derived cells lines that cluster with CfERV-Fc1(a) members. Clustering of these sequences also suggest that there is either a new sub lineage of CfERV-Fc1(a) or possibly missed polymorphic proviral insertions that are currently assembled as solo LTRs.
Julia Halo, Ph.D. (Advisor)
Raymond Larsen, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Zhaohui Xu, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
82 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Jarosz, A. S. (2018). The expression and distribution of insertionally polymorphic endogenous retroviruses in canine cancer derived cell lines. [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1530029012266278

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Jarosz, Abigail. The expression and distribution of insertionally polymorphic endogenous retroviruses in canine cancer derived cell lines. 2018. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1530029012266278.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Jarosz, Abigail. "The expression and distribution of insertionally polymorphic endogenous retroviruses in canine cancer derived cell lines." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1530029012266278

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)