F1 crosses of lupus-prone New Zealand Black (NZB) and 129 mice to Snerv1/Snerv2<sup>-/-</sup> mice failed to restore NEERV repression, demonstrating that loss of SNERV underlies the lupus autoantigen gp70 overproduction that promotes nephritis in susceptible mice and that SNERV encodes for Sgp3 (in NZB mice) and Gv-1 loci (in 129 mice).
Because of the localization of the macroH2A1 gene encoding macroH2A histone variants within the Sgp3 interval and of an up-regulated transcription of endogenous retroviral sequences in macroH2A1-deficient C57BL/6 (B6) mice, we investigated whether macroH2A1 is a candidate gene for Sgp3. macroH2A1-deficient B6 mice carrying the 129-derived Sgp3 locus, which was co-transferred with the 129 macroH2A1 mutant gene, displayed increased levels of serum gp70 and hepatic retroviral gp70 RNAs comparable to those of B6.NZB-Sgp3 congenic mice bearing the Sgp3 locus of lupus-prone NZB mice.