A VIRUS IN OUR GENES
Phoenix Cinema, Kirkwall
The genome of human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) can integrate into the human genome – and thus be inherited. It’s happened multiple times throughout human history; but when and where is not known.
Prof. Ruth Jarrett’s group at the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research is trying to find geographical locations, using differences in the DNA sequence of the integrated virus in different groups of people, including some of Orcadian descent. One of the team, Dr Michael Wood, joins us to describe progress so far.
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“We hope to use the information to work out when the virus first integrated,” he says, “and how the integrated virus has moved around the world as people have migrated from place to place.”
