Overview
- Researchers reported on Sept. 24 that the BC200 RNA, a primate-specific noncoding gene, was found inserted in the genome of molluscum contagiosum virus based on analyses published in Science.
- BC200 is an abundant RNA in human neurons that originated from a transposable element, a type of mobile DNA often called a jumping gene.
- Unlike most transposon-derived sequences that lose mobility when repurposed, the study shows BC200 has retained transposition ability and appears to have escaped into a human poxvirus.
- The gene is detected at low levels in sperm and eggs and is abnormally expressed in some tumors and Alzheimer’s brains, which raises concerns about possible roles in cancer, neurodegeneration, and heritable insertions.
- The authors, led by researchers at Cornell, plan lab experiments to test whether the virus uses BC200 to alter host cells and to study BC200’s activity in cancer and the germline while placing the finding in the larger context that transposable elements make up about half of human DNA.