Generally speaking, when we think of viruses, we think they are a bad thing – especially right now with flu season in full swing. But that’s not the case for all viruses.
In fact, some of them are responsible for contributing to the complex wiring in our brains.
Researchers from Lund University in Sweden have put out a study that identifies inherited viruses that are millions of years old as an important player in how our brains have developed. More specifically, endogenous retroviruses making up about 5 percent of our DNA, which used to be considered of no value, are actually quite essential.
Johan Jakobsson, head of the research team for molecular neurogenetics at Lund University, and his colleagues have found that the retroviruses are partially responsible for regulating which genes are expressed and when. They believe that because tumors can’t form in nerve cells that’s likely why the viruses are activated in the brain.
“We have been able to observe that these viruses are activated specifically in the brain cells and have an important regulatory role,” Jakobsson says according to BioSpace. “We believe that the role of retroviruses can contribute to explaining why brain cells in particular are so dynamic and multifaceted in their function. It may also be the case that the viruses’ more or less complex functions in various species can help us to understand why we are so different.”
This new research could open doors for better understanding genetic-linked diseases.
“I believe that this can lead to new, exciting studies on the diseases of the brain,” Jakobsson says. “Currently, when we look for genetic factors linked to various diseases, we usually look for the genes we are familiar with, which make up a mere two per cent of the genome. Now we are opening up the possibility of looking at a much larger part of the genetic material which was previously considered unimportant. The image of the brain becomes more complex, but the area in which to search for errors linked to diseases with a genetic component, such as neurodegenerative diseases, psychiatric illness and brain tumours, also increases.”
