Sine-R.C2 (a homo sapiens specific retroposon) is homologous to CDNA from postmortem brain in schizophrenia and to two loci in the Xq21.3/Yp block linked to handedness and psychosis

Abstract

We investigated the retroviral/retroposon hypothesis of schizophrenia by generating sequences with PCR primers based on a retroviral sequence recovered by Yee et al. [1998: Schizophr Res 29:92] from a cDNA library from postmortem brain tissue from an individual with psychosis in a genomic region (Xq21.3) that has been tentatively linked to schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder by Laval et al. [1998: Am. J. Med. Genet. (Neuropsychiatr. Genet.) 81:420-427]. Within the block of homology with Yp that was generated by a transposition between the chimpanzee and Homo sapiens we find two sequences, HS307 and HS408, with a high degree of homology to but not identity with the schizophrenic brain cDNA. The closest match of these three sequences is to a family of retroposons, that has evolved from the HERV-K family of endogenous retroviruses, some members of which (e.g., SINE- R.C2) appear to be specific to the human genome. This element has been reported as a cause of Fukuyama-type muscular dystrophy [Kobayashi et al., 1998: Nature 394:388-392]. Such retroposons, as agents of change in the human genome, provide a strategy for investigating pathogenesis. On account of their genomic location in a region that has been subject to change in the course of hominid evolution, and that may have a relationship to psychosis and/or cerebral asymmetry, we conclude that these particular insertions deserve further investigation.