How do retroviruses differ from other animal viruses?
2008-3-2 13:14:38 by Skinskin
Normal viruses inject their DNA into a host cell. That DNA is used to create new virus cells in the standard ways (i.e. DNA ---> mRNA ----> protein) as well as DNA ---> DNA for replication.
Retroviruses inject mRNA into a host cell and use the mRNA as a template for new DNA synthesis. The term "retro" is used because this is the reverse of how most organisms process DNA and mRNA.