Polynucleotide fragments of an infectious human endogenous retrovirus

1. An isolated polynucleotide molecule comprising a nucleotide sequence of an infectious human endogenous retrovirus, which sequence is or is complementary to a sequence which:

(a) has at least 99% identity to the full length of SEQ ID NO:1;

(b) has 100% identity to a fragment of SEQ ID NO:1, the fragment comprising at least 15 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO:1 and including at least one of nucleotides 416, 602, 630, 639, 654, 738, 799, 802, 866, 945, 953, 972, 1149, 1348, 1413, 1642, 1653, 1668, 1701, 1989, 2068, 2087, 2090, 2097, 2100, 2124, 2163, 2198, 2238, 2253, 2273, 2305, 2313, 2330, 2461, 2808, 2815, 2816, 2878, 2938, 2974, 3052, 3091, 3105, 3124, 3178, 3363, 5402, 5719, 6456, 6458, 6464, 6802, 7146, 7262, 7340, 7347, 7388, or 7436 of SEQ ID NO:1; and/or

(c) comprises the sequence inserted into a vector pCR4-Topo and deposited as any of “MERV-env”, “MERV-gag”, “MERV-prt” and “MERV-pol” at the DSMZ on 26 Sep. 2001.

2. The polynucleotide molecule of claim 1 , comprising the sequence of SEQ ID NO:1.

3. The polynucleotide molecule of claim 1 , wherein the fragment of SEQ ID NO:1 comprises a sequence identical to the full-length of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:3, SEQ ID NO:4, or SEQ ID NO:5.

4. The polynucleotide molecule of claim 1 , further defined as encoding an env protein of an infectious human endogenous retrovirus, said polynucleotide molecule comprising a sequence:

(a) with at least 99.5% identity to the full length of the sequence of SEQ ID NO:2;

(b) which is complementary to the full length of the nucleotide sequence of said SEQ ID NO:2; and/or

(c) comprises the sequence inserted into a vector pCR4-Topo and deposited as “MERV-env”.

5. The polynucleotide molecule of claim 1 , further defined as encoding a gag protein of an infectious human endogenous retrovirus, said polynucleotide molecule comprising a sequence:

(a) with at least 99.5% identity to the full length of the sequence of SEQ ID NO:4;

(b) which is complementary to the full length of the nucleotide sequence of said SEQ ID NO:4; and/or

(c) comprises the sequence inserted into a vector pCR4-Topo and deposited as “MERV-gag”.

6. The polynucleotide molecule of claim 1 , further defined as encoding a pro protein of an infectious human endogenous retrovirus, said polynucleotide molecule comprising a sequence:

(a) with at least 98% identity to the full length of the sequence of SEQ ID NO:5;

(b) which is complementary to the full length of the nucleotide sequence of said SEQ ID NO:5; and/or

(c) comprises the sequence inserted into a vector pCR4-Topo and deposited as “MERV-prt”.

7. The polynucleotide molecule of claim 1 , further defined as encoding a pol protein of an infectious human endogenous retrovirus, said polynucleotide molecule comprising a sequence:

(a) with at least 99% identity to the full length of the sequence of SEQ ID NO:3;

(b) which is complementary to the full length of the nucleotide sequence of said SEQ ID NO:3; and/or

(c) comprises the sequence inserted into a vector pCR4-Topo and deposited as “MERV-pol”.

8. The polynucleotide molecule of claim 1 , further comprising a detectable label.

9. The polynucleotide molecule of claim 1 , further defined as a primer adapted to specifically hybridize to a second polynucleotide molecule of claim 1 in an amplification reaction.

10. The polynucleotide molecule of claim 1 , wherein the polynucleotide molecule is comprised in a biologically functional vector.

11. The polynucleotide molecule of claim 10 , wherein the biologically functional vector is in inverse orientation with respect to the promoter.

12. The polynucleotide molecule of claim 1 , wherein the polynucleotide molecule is comprised in a recombinant host cell.

13. The polynucleotide molecule of claim 12 , wherein the host cell is a mammalian cell.