Host-retrovirus arms race: trimming the budget

Cell Host Microbe. 2008 Sep 11;4(3):196-7. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2008.08.008.

Abstract

In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, OhAinle et al., 2008 report that APOBEC3H, a potent innate retroviral restriction factor in primates, lost its function twice independently during recent evolution in humans, stressing an ever present trade-off between benefit and cost of protection against pathogens.

Publication types

  • Comment

MeSH terms

  • Aminohydrolases
  • Animals
  • Anti-Retroviral Agents / metabolism*
  • Cytosine Deaminase / genetics*
  • Cytosine Deaminase / metabolism*
  • Evolution, Molecular*
  • Host-Parasite Interactions*
  • Humans
  • Primates / genetics
  • Primates / metabolism

Substances

  • Anti-Retroviral Agents
  • APOBEC3H protein, human
  • Aminohydrolases
  • Cytosine Deaminase