Retrovirus

A retrovirus is an RNA virus that is duplicated in a host cell using the reverse transcriptase enzyme to produce DNA from its RNA genome. The DNA is then incorporated into the host's genome by an integrase enzyme. The virus thereafter replicates as part of the host cell's DNA. Retroviruses are enveloped viruses that belong to the viral family Retroviridae.

A special variant of retroviruses are endogenous retroviruses which are integrated into the genome of the host and inherited across generations.

The virus itself stores its nucleic acid in the form of a +mRNA (including the 5'cap and 3'PolyA inside the virion) genome and serves as a means of delivery of that genome into cells it targets as an obligate parasite, and constitutes the infection. Once in the host's cell, the RNA strands undergo reverse transcription in the cytoplasm and are integrated into the host's genome, at which point the retroviral DNA is referred to as a provirus. It is difficult to detect the virus until it has infected the host.

In most viruses, DNA is transcribed into RNA, and then RNA is translated into protein. However, retroviruses function differently – their RNA is reverse-transcribed into DNA, which is integrated into the host cell's genome (when it becomes a provirus), and then undergoes the usual transcription and translational processes to express the genes carried by the virus. So, the information contained in a retroviral gene is used to generate the corresponding protein via the sequence: RNA → DNA → RNA → protein. This extends the fundamental process identified by Francis Crick, in which the sequence is: DNA → RNA → protein.

Retroviruses are proving to be valuable research tools in molecular biology and have been used successfully in gene delivery systems.