A retrovirus is a virus that inserts a copy of its genome into the DNA of a host cell that it invades, thus changing that cell’s genome. Once inside the host cell’s cytoplasm, the virus uses its reverse transcriptase enzyme to produce DNA from its RNA genome, the reverse of the usual pattern, thus retro. The host cell then treats the viral DNA as part of its genome, transcribing and translating the viral genes along with the cell’s genes, producing the proteins required to assemble new copies of the virus. The new DNA is then incorporated into the host cell genome by an integrase enzyme, at which point the retroviral DNA is referred to as a provirus.
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Source: Phys.org