Viruses are essentially little balls filled with genetic information and a couple of proteins that act like machines to help the viral genetic information get copied inside the cell. This involves taking the viral genome, converting it into a usable form, sticking it inside host cell ribosomes (protein making machines), and forcing them to make viral proteins. Most of the time, this happens outside the nucleus and often never involves DNA. However, for a certain type of viruses called retroviruses, converting the viral genome into a usable form involves a protein called reverse transcriptase. This takes viral genetic material and converts it into DNA just like what we have in our own cells. These retroviruses then trick host cells into taking that DNA inside the nucleus where it is slipped inside a chromosome.
the_master_command3r t1_izoymge wrote
Reply to How did viral DNA become part of the human genome? by emelrad12
Viruses are essentially little balls filled with genetic information and a couple of proteins that act like machines to help the viral genetic information get copied inside the cell. This involves taking the viral genome, converting it into a usable form, sticking it inside host cell ribosomes (protein making machines), and forcing them to make viral proteins. Most of the time, this happens outside the nucleus and often never involves DNA. However, for a certain type of viruses called retroviruses, converting the viral genome into a usable form involves a protein called reverse transcriptase. This takes viral genetic material and converts it into DNA just like what we have in our own cells. These retroviruses then trick host cells into taking that DNA inside the nucleus where it is slipped inside a chromosome.