Human endogenous retroviruses that colonized vertebrate DNA millions of years ago have long been dismissed as junk DNA, but researchers now know that they may play important roles in cancer, ...

Researchers report in the journal Cell that ancient viruses may be to thank for myelin—and, by extension, our large, complex ...

The researchers discovered that the synthesis of myelin in fish, amphibians, and mammals depends on a genetic element called a “retrotransposon,” which is derived from a retrovirus.