retrovirus

retrovirus type of RNA virus that, unlike other RNA viruses, reproduces by transcribing itself into DNA. An enzyme called reverse transcriptase allows a retrovirus's RNA to act as the template for this RNA-to-DNA transcription. The resultant DNA inserts itself into a cell's DNA and is reproduced along with the cell and its daughters. The life cycle is completed when the viral DNA in selected daughter cells makes an RNA copy of itself that covers itself in a protein coat and leaves the cell. Retroviruses sometimes destroy the cells whose DNA they alter, as with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS , and sometimes cause them to become cancerous, as with the viruses that cause certain leukemias . Lentiviruses are retroviruses that cause slowly progressing diseases, such as AIDS.

retrovirus A virus whose genetic material consists of RNA and which is able, by means of the enzyme reverse transcriptase, to manufacture its DNA equivalent and insert it into the genome of its host species. It has been suggested that this could be a way of overriding Weissmann's doctrine, and in effect causing Lamarckian inheritance. See neo-Lamarckism.

retrovirus Any of a large virus family (Retroviridae) that, unlike other living organisms, contain the genetic material RNA (ribonucleic acid) rather than the customary DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). In order to multiply, retroviruses make use of a special enzyme to convert their RNA into DNA, which then becomes integrated with the DNA in the cells of their hosts. Diseases caused by retroviruses include acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).