Predicted Cellular Interactors of the Endogenous Retrovirus-K Integrase Enzyme

Integrase (IN) enzymes are found in all retroviruses and are crucial in the retroviral integration process. Many studies have revealed how exogenous IN enzymes, such as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) IN, contribute to altered cellular function. However, the same consideration has not been given to viral IN originating from symbionts within our own DNA. Endogenous retrovirus-K (ERVK) is pathologically associated with neurological and inflammatory diseases along with several cancers. The ERVK IN interactome is unknown, and the question of how conserved the ERVK IN protein–protein interaction motifs are as compared to other retroviral integrases is addressed in this paper. The ERVK IN protein sequence was analyzed using the Eukaryotic Linear Motif (ELM) database, and the results are compared to ELMs of other betaretroviral INs and similar eukaryotic INs. A list of putative ERVK IN cellular protein interactors was curated from the ELM list and submitted for STRING analysis to generate an ERVK IN interactome. KEGG analysis was used to identify key pathways potentially influenced by ERVK IN. It was determined that the ERVK IN potentially interacts with cellular proteins involved in the DNA damage response (DDR), cell cycle, immunity, inflammation, cell signaling, selective autophagy, and intracellular trafficking. The most prominent pathway identified was viral carcinogenesis, in addition to select cancers, neurological diseases, and diabetic complications. This potentiates the role of ERVK IN in these pathologies via protein–protein interactions facilitating alterations in key disease pathways.