The benefits of integration.
Retroviruses, including the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), are notorious for two essential steps of their viral replication: reverse transcription and integration. This latter property is considered to be essential for productive replication and ensures the stable long-term insertion of the viral genome sequence in the host chromatin, thereby leading to the life-long association of the virus with the infected cell. Using HIV as a prototypic example, the present review aims to provide an overview of how and where integration occurs, as well as presenting general consequences for both the virus and the infected host.
Institute of Microbiology, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland. Electronic address: Angela.Ciuffi@chuv.ch.
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D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D006801:Humans; D012190:Retroviridae / Q000502:physiology*; D016662:Virus Integration
Endogenous retrovirus; human immunodeficiency virus; integrase; integration; lens-epithelium derived growth factor/p75; nuclear import; nuclear pore proteins; persistence; retrovirus