Retroviruses and the distantly related retrotransposons are ancient genetic parasites that can harm cells and host organisms in at least two ways. Retroviruses can of course cause direct pathogenic effects. However, both retroviruses and retrotransposons can also cause genetic damage due to their potential to disrupt the expression of genes that flank proviral integration sites. Although human immunodefi- ciency virus type 1 (HIV-1) does not target germ cells, other retroviruses can infect germ cell precursors, which are also subject to genetic damage caused by endogenous retrotrans- posons.
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Bryan R. Cullen (2003) studied this question.
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