[The tissue-specific methylation of human-specific endogenous retroviral long terminal repeats]

Abstract

A possible involvement of retroelements in the epigenetic regulation of human gene expression was considered by the example of methylation of long terminal repeats (LTRs) of the human endogenous retrovirus family K (HERV-K). The methylation status of six HERV-K LTRs was determined in various gene-enriched regions of the human genome. The methylation of four LTRs was shown to be tissue-specific. Our results correlated with published data on the tissue-specific changes in the expression level of human genes adjacent to the LTRs under study. The English version of the paper: Russian Journal of Bioorganic Chemistry, 2004, vol. 30, no. 5; see also http: // www.maik.ru.