Definition of "provirus" []

• The precursor or latent form of a virus that is capable of being integrated into the genetic material of a host cell and being replicated with it. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "This DNA copy, called a provirus, makes RNA copies, and the virus is regenerated, phoenixlike, to form new viruses."
• "This DNA, known as the provirus, then integrates itself into the host cell's chromosomes."
• "Opportunity No. 3 arises shortly after the provirus (the integrated viral DNA) starts running off RNA copies of itself."