Submitted by not_my_usual_name t3_11pzyw4 in askscience
babar90 t1_jc3jiw3 wrote
Reply to comment by not_my_usual_name in How does viral RNA encode both the capsule and the RNA? by not_my_usual_name
All the translation (making of proteins) is done by the cell's ribosomes (this for almost every viruses) from mRNA strands as the cells do everydays to make proteins.
But the replication and transcription (making copies of the full length RNA genome and some mRNA copied from parts of it) is achieved by a viral polymerase, a RdRp.
This is for RNA viruses. Many DNA viruses do something along the same lines, but some do not and make their genome enter the cell nucleus to exploit either its DNA replication machinery or its DNA->RNA transcription machinery, or both.
Retroviruses are some kind of hybrid between the two strategies.
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