... RNA into DNA (the process of reverse transcription) using an enzyme that they carry (reverse transcriptase). Human infection with HIV results in a complex clinical disease known as acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) that may take ten years or more to develop. The outer surface of HIV is a lipid "envelope" derived from the cell membrane. Protruding from the surface are the viral transmembrane glycoprotein (gp41) and the envelope glycoprotein (gp120) that allow HIV to bind and fuse with a target cell. Within the envelope, the viral core protein, (p17), forms the matrix of the virion particle and the core protein, (p24), forms an inner cylindrically shaped nucleoid. The nucleoid contains two strands of viral genomic RNA (the genetic material of HIV) and the associated reverse transcriptase enzyme. HIV will infect cells bearing the surface CD4 molecule (a normal immune protein that HIV uses as its receptor). The viral gp120 ...

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