A number of genes which affect the susceptibility of mice to infection by retroviruses have been described. One of the most interesting of these genes is Fv1 (Friend virus susceptibility 1), which acts at a stage in the retroviral life-cycle following virus entry into the cell but prior to integration and formation of proviral structures. A detailed understanding of the mode of action of Fv1 mi...

Although the worldwide incidence of HIV infection is high, the retrovirus displays a surprisingly low infectivity in vitro. As a potential explanation for this discrepancy, Münch et al. (2007) now identify and characterize a factor found in human semen that under certain conditions can enhance HIV infectivity by more than 100,000-fold.

Retroviruses have been found in many bird and animal species where they often cause various types of cancer. Dr. Robert Gallo's contribution to the field of retrovirology and the link he established between RNA viruses and cancer has been significant. Historical aspects of his discoveries in the area of human retroviruses are presented and an attempt is made to focus attention on his outstandin...

Commentary on Hare, S.; Gupta, S.S.; Valkov, E.; Engelman, A.; Cherepanov, P. Retroviral intasome assembly and inhibition of DNA strand transfer. Nature2010, 464, 232-236.

We propose a revised standardized nomenclature for the proteins common to all retroviruses on the basis of biological function, enzymatic activity, and/or virion location data. (We do not discuss proteins specific for subfamilies or only some retroviruses.)

Endogenous mink cell focus-forming (MCF)-like retroviral sequences in the murine genome are stable, inherited sequences analogous to other chromosomal genes. As such, it is thought that they are transcribed and translated in a manner analogous to other genes. However, when the SL12.4 CD4-, CD8- thymoma cell line was studied for nuclear/cytoplasmic distribution of endogenous MCF-related transcri...

An elaboration of HERVd (http://herv.img.cas.cz) is being carried out in two directions. One of them is the integration and better classification of families that diverge considerably from typical retroviral genomes. This leads to a more precise identification of members with individual families. The second improvement is better accessibility of the database and connection with human genome ann...