Retroviral Vector

**Semantic type:** Chemical Viewed Functionally|Nucleic Acid, Nucleoside, or Nucleotide

**Definition:** Any one of the recombinant retroviruses (RNA viruses) designed for gene transfer applications to deliver genetic material of interest into cells. These retroviral vectors are replication defective and have decreased immunogenicity. They are able to efficiently infect dividing cells, and the exogenous genetic material is integrated into the genome of the target cell. Thereby, the expression of the exogenous gene is stable instead of transient as in the case of adenoviral vectors.

**Synonyms:** - retroviral vector