Is HIV a endogenous retrovirus?
After research: HIV is an exogenous retrovirus, meaning that it originated outside the organism’s body. This type of virus has an interesting life cycle that allows it to incorporate itself into the genetic material of the host it infects. Unlike our genome, which is composed of DNA, the retroviral genome is composed of RNA. Once the retrovirus enters a host cell, its RNA genome is made into DNA (through an enzyme the retrovirus carries) and the DNA is integrated into the host genome—becoming a type of endogenous retrovirus, meaning that it is now a part of the genome in that cell. In the case of HIV, it can remain “quiet” for many years and, for unknown reasons, suddenly begin using the cell as a virus factory to make many copies of infectious HIV. These subsequently infect other cells—specifically, a type of immune system cell, which is destroyed and lowers the ability of the immune system to fight disease.
