Our genomes are scattered with large numbers of human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs), presumed left-overs from early retroviral infections. In the Advanced Online Publication of
They analysed the 5' and 3' LTR sequences of 35 provirus HERV-K elements and found evidence for inter-element recombination events in six elements (16%). HERV recombination may have influenced genomic rearrangements and the evolution of the human genome, for example via insertion/deletion events in the class I major histocompatibility region.
