During the replication of retroviruses, a double-stranded DNA copy of the viral RNA genome is synthesized by reverse transcription and integrated into the genomes of the infected cell. When retroviral DNA is integrated into the DNA of germ line cells, it is passed on to future generations in Mendelian fashion as an endogenous provirus. Until very recently, retroviruses were the only known endogenous viruses. This honor has now been extended to other RNA viruses, and to circoviruses and parvoviruses, which possess single-stranded DNA genomes. Such integration events constitute a fossil record from which it is possible to determine the age of viruses.
