Séminaire CIRI : Dr. Jean-Luc Battini

Jean-Luc Battini (Team  leader « RNA Viruses & Metabolism", Institut de Recherche en Infectiologie de Montpellier
CNRS UMR 9004): " A new physiological function for an endogenous envelope glycoprotein".

Abstract: Hundreds of endogenous retroviruses (ERV) are contained in vertebrate genomes as inactive elements and very few of them have retained intact envelope glycoproteins (Env) during evolution. No physiological role for these Envs is known, with the exception of the human ERV-W (HERV-W) env which encodes the well-known syncytins required for syncytiotrophoblast membrane fusion during placentation. I will present work from our lab highlighting a new physiological role in cellular metabolism and cell survival of a truncated endogenous Env previously identified as a restriction factor against retroviral infections.