4 ms·
Does this mean you could be tested for the specific gene?
by wil421 8y ago
Does this mean you could be tested for the specific gene?
- subcosmos 8y agoAbout 20% of the human genome is endogenous retroviruses. We've all got them, and there is significant evidence that they become more active in old age, and may be a factor in dementia and other illnesses.
- nsajko 8y agoThey are also essential to forming the placenta: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HERV-W https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HERV-W https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HERV-FRD https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HERV-FRD
- ZainRiz 8y agoFact check: It's more like 5-8% according to Wikipedia. Still a significant number. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endogenous_retrovirus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endogenous_retrovirus
- lugg 8y agoWhat do you mean may be a factor in dementia? What other illnesses? Does this link in with insulin resistance and type three diabetes at all?
- girnigoe 8y agoSounds that way to me: they're looking at a specific uncommon HK2
- Gibbon1 8y agoIf they coun't how would they be able to make their claims? I could see difficulties if there were multiple copies in different places or some such that would make a naive test non-diagnostic.
- twic 8y agoYes. Make a primer that matches the inside of the retrovirus, and another that matches the genome outside it in this particular location. Use them to do PCR on a sample of DNA. If you get a band, you have the retrovirus in that location.