Scientists Find Human Jumping Gene BC200 in Poxvirus After 2 Ancient Transfers
Updated
Updated · Tech Explorist · Sep 26
Scientists Find Human Jumping Gene BC200 in Poxvirus After 2 Ancient Transfers
3 articles · Updated · Tech Explorist · Sep 26
Summary
Science researchers reported that BC200—a human gene tied to brain function and still able to move within genomes—was found embedded in molluscum contagiosum virus, a human poxvirus.
Two transfer events appear to have inserted BC200 into the virus roughly 100,000 years ago, making it a rare documented case of a vertebrate transposable element escaping into a virus in the wild.
BC200 is unusual because it arose from a mobile element about 40 million years ago in primates yet retained both a cellular role and its mobility, unlike most transposon-derived genes repurposed by evolution.
The finding raises the possibility that viruses can shuttle genetic elements across species, while BC200’s abnormal expression in tumors and Alzheimer’s brains points to potential links between its mobility and disease.