Identification and cloning of endogenous retroviral sequences present in human DNA

Using nonstringent annealing conditions and a 2.75-kilobase segment of cloned African green monkey DNA that specifically hybridizes to the proviruses of AKR ecotropic murine leukemia virus (MuLV) and baboon endogenous virus (BaEV) as a probe, we detected related sequences in three different preparations of human brain DNA fragments. The blot-hybridization pattern obtained with cleaved human DNA was similar to that previously reported for the interaction of MuLV cDNA and cleaved mouse DNA and suggested the presence of numerous copies of retrovirus-related sequences in the human genome. The labeled 2.75-kilobase fragment derived from cloned monkey DNA was used to screen a human DNA library in Charon 4A. One clone obtained hybridized to three contiguous MuLV-and BaEV-reactive fragments of the cloned monkey DNA and to multiple fragments of human DNA including a prominent 1.0-kilobase EcoRI fragment also present in the clone.