Evolution of Retroviruses: Fossils in our DNA1 From: Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society | Date: September 1, 2004| Author: Coffin, John M | Copyright American Philosophical Society Sep 2004. Provided by ProQuest LLC.Copyright information

UNIQUE AMONG INFECTIOUS AGENTS, retroviruses provide the opportunity for studying their own evolution, evolution of the host-virus relationship, and evolution of the host. This utility stems from the property that retroviruses must, as a normal and essential part of every cycle of replication, cause their genetic information, in the form of a DNA molecule called the provirus, to be joined with, or integrated into, the permanent genetic information of the host cell (figure 1). In a sense, the ...