“…Although previous studies have reported and identified endogenous retroviruses in bovine tissues (Baba et al., ; Nakaya & Miyazawa, ; Xiao, Kim, et al., ; Xiao, Park, et al., ), the current study is the first report on expression of endogenous retroviruses in pre‐implantation bovine embryo. We used RT‐qPCR technique with a very dynamic range and high sensitivity, specificity and accuracy (Benoy et al., ; Biesaga, Szostek, Klimek, Jakubowicz, & Wysocka, ; Cleusix, Lacroix, Dasen, Leo, & Le Blay, ; Tse et al., ). Our findings on the expression level of two BERVs, BERV‐K1 and BERV‐K2 envelope transcripts, reveal that these two ERVs are expressed throughout different stages of pre‐implantation development.…”