Junk DNA: goodbye!: another function found (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, March 10, 2015, 14:26 (3547 days ago) @ Balance_Maintained

A useful retrovirus steers human embryology:-http://www.nature.com/nsmb/journal/v21/n4/full/nsmb.2799.html-Abstract: "Human endogenous retrovirus subfamily H (HERVH) is a class of transposable elements expressed preferentially in human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). Here, we report that the long terminal repeats of HERVH function as enhancers and that HERVH is a nuclear long noncoding RNA required to maintain hESC identity. Furthermore, HERVH is associated with OCT4, coactivators and Mediator subunits. Together, these results uncover a new role of species-specific transposable elements in hESCs."