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protovirus
protovirus n.
Brit. 
/ˈprəʊtə(ʊ)ˌvʌɪrəs/
, /ˈprəʊtə(ʊ)ˌvʌɪrəs/U.S. /ˈproʊdoʊˌvaɪrəs/
Molecular Biology (a) a hypothetical primitive or ancestral virus; (b) (in H. M. Temin's terminology) a hypothetical sequence of chromosomal DNA in a somatic cell that can replicate by reverse transcription and give rise by mutation to an oncogenic virus (frequently attributive, esp. in protovirus hypothesis, protovirus theory)./ˈproʊdoʊˌvaɪrəs/ΘΚΠ
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protovirus1958
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protovirus hypothesis1958
1958 Language 34 464 Other items which absolutely require to be touched on..include..the fact that the gap between protovirus and protozoon is a great deal larger than between protozoon and man.
1970 H. M. Temin in Perspectives in Biol. & Med. 14 22 This oncogene theory differs from the protovirus theory proposed here... The protovirus theory..suggests that leukemia viruses do not preexist but arise from other elements, protoviruses, by genetic change.
1996 Science 16 Feb. 948/3 The protovirus hypothesis, with its focus on somatic genetic alterations and recombination between provirus and cell, thus presaged the discovery of proto-oncogenes.
2004 Trends in Microbiol. 12 458/2 As the number of trapped sequences increased and ribozyme activity evolved, the micelles became protoviruses.
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