PtERV1

PtERV1 or Pan troglodytes Endogenous Retrovirus-1 is a retrovirus that supposedly infected chimpanzees about 4 million years ago, and was possibly involved in the process of speciation, causing the chimpanzee and human lines to diverge. Kaiser and others suggested that TRIM5α may have played a critical role in the human immune defense system about 4 million years ago when the retrovirus infected chimpanzees. Although no traces of PtERV1 have yet been found in the human genome, about 130 traces of PtERV1 DNA have been found in the genome of modern chimpanzees. After reconstituting a portion of the PtERV1 retrovirus, it was reported that TRIM5α prevents the virus from entering human cells in vitro . Although this cellular defense mechanism may have been very useful 4 million years ago when confronted with the PtERV1 epidemic, it has a side effect, as it makes cells more susceptible to attacks of the HIV-1 retrovirus. The findings of Kaiser and others have recently been called into question Using the PtERV1 capsid, which produces higher titer virus-like particles, Perez-Caballero and others have reported that PtERV1 is not limited to either humans or the TRIM5α chimpanzee.