Chapter 6.5, Problem 2TQ

Summary Introduction

To review :

Advantages and disadvantages of replication by the host polymerase in comparison with using a polymerase encoded by its own genome.

Introduction:

Viral replication is dependent on the form of the viral genome. The DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) genome uses host replication enzymes. On the other hand, RNA (ribonucleic acid) genome requires an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase to produce an RNA template or a reverse transcriptase to create a DNA template which is the case of retroviruses.