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LiveScience
LiveScience
Sahana Sitaraman

'Fossil viruses' embedded in the human genome linked to psychiatric disorders

Colorful illustration of three illuminated DNA molecules against a black background.

Ancient viral DNA embedded in the human genome may boost people's susceptibility to neuropsychiatric disorders, such as depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

A study published in May in the journal Nature Communications zoomed in on human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) — snippets of DNA that form approximately 8% of the modern human genome.

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