Correction for Song et al., From The Cover: Roles of PSF protein and VL30 RNA in reversible gene regulation, PNAS 2005 102:12189-12193

MEDICAL SCIENCES. For the article “Roles of PSF protein and VL30 RNA in reversible gene regulation,” by Xu Song, Ying Sun, and Alan Garen, which appeared in issue 34, August 23, 2005, of Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (102, 12189-12193; first published August 3, 2005; 10.1073/pnas.0505179102) and was discussed in “Normal and pathological functions of mammalian retroelements,” a commentary by Albert Deisseroth in issue 35, August 30, 2005 (102, 12292-12293; first published August 23, 2005; 10.1073/pnas.0505866102), the authors note that the human genome contains a sequence on chromosome 11 (clone RP11-419K3) almost identical to a mouse retroelement VL30. This sequence was registered in GenBank as AC019351 on September 9, 2000, but was removed from the database after publication of this article because it is now considered to be a contaminating mouse sequence. The authors also referenced a 742-bp EST sequence (CX757918) that has extensive sequence identity to a region of a mouse VL30 RNA. The EST was cloned from a pleuripotent cell line derived from a human blastocyst inner cell mass, but the apparent lack of a coding sequence in the human genome suggests that the EST could be a mouse contaminant. The only conclusion in the papers that has changed concerns the presence of a VL30 gene in the human genome. All other conclusions remain valid.