Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) mediate struc-tural variation and genomic instability based on their multiple copy number, inherent ability to mobilize via reverse transcriptase, and high sequence similarity. More-over, they undergo multiple amplification and retrotransposition events, resulting in the widespread distribution of complete or partial retroviral sequences throughout the primate genome. As such, HERV elements have played important biological roles in ge-nome evolution, and their long terminal repeat (LTR) elements contain numerous regulatory sequences, including effective promoters, enhancers, polyadenylation signals, and transcription factor-binding sites. Lastly, HERV elements are capable of influencing the expression of neighboring genes, a process that also contributed to primate evolution.

Keywords: chromosomal distribution, copy number, HERV, LTR elements, promoter