Discovery of a novel murine type C retrovirus by data mining

Abstract

Analysis of genomic and expression data allows both identification and characterization of novel retroviruses. We describe a recombinant type C murine retrovirus, similar to the Mus dunni endogenous retrovirus, with VL30-like long terminal repeats and murine leukemia virus-like coding sequences. This virus is present in multiple copies in the mouse genome and expressed in a range of mouse tissues.