TY - JOUR AU - Kjeldbjerg, Anders L. AU - Villesen, Palle AU - Aagaard, Lars AU - Pedersen, Finn Skou PY - 2008 DA - 2008/09/30 TI - Gene conversion and purifying selection of a placenta-specific ERV-V envelope gene during simian evolution JO - BMC Evolutionary Biology SP - 266 VL - 8 IS - 1 AB - Most human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) invaded our genome at least 25 million years ago. The majority of the viral genes are degenerated, since no selection preserves them within the genome. However, a few intact and very old HERV genes exist, and likely are beneficial for the host. We here address evolutionary aspects of two HERV-V envelope genes, ENVV1 and ENVV2, located in tandem and containing a long open reading frame. SN - 1471-2148 UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-8-266 DO - 10.1186/1471-2148-8-266 ID - Kjeldbjerg2008 ER -