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Retrovirus contain RNS strings carrying their genetic code and reverse transcriptase, an enzyme that allows the code of the RNA to be translated to DNA in the cell cytoplasm. The DNA strings are transported into the cell nucleus and inserted in the cellular DNA to form part of the cellular gene set-up. The normal cellular mechanisms and components are used to replicate the viral genes, convert them to RNA strings, synthetize the other components required by the intact virus and to set the virus free. The reverse transcription of the RNA string by reverse transcriptase is thus the first step in retroviral gene expression.
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