A family of repetitive DNA sequences in Old World primates

A dispersed family of repetitive DNA sequences that is amplified in Old World primates has been characterized. The sequences are present in about 250-350 copies in humans, found on all chromosomes, and some are at least 1 kb in size. Within the core repeat is a 178-bp region that is moderately-to-highly conserved. A representative sequence exhibited strong promoter activity when placed in front of a promoterless gene and transfected into human cells. This promoter activity has been localized to a 138-bp region of the repeat that is about 150 bp downstream of the 178-bp conserved region. Transcripts of the sequences were not detected in six human breast epithelial and teratocarcinoma cell lines. Based upon the work of Pavelitz et al. [Pavelitz, T., Rusche, L., Matera, A.G., Scharf, J.M., Weiner, A.M., 1995. EMBO J. 14, 169-177], the sequence appears to be related to the LTR of an HERV-K class human endogenous retrovirus.