All of the following describe HIV except

• A. It possesses an outer envelope.
• B. It contains an inner core with P24 antigen.
• C. It contains DNA as its nucleic acid.
• D. It is a member of the retrovirus family.

Answer: (C)

HIV carries its genetic material as RNA, not DNA. It is an enveloped, single-stranded RNA virus in the retrovirus family. Its RNA genome is the genetic material packaged in the virion, and after it enters a host cell, the enzyme reverse transcriptase converts that RNA into a DNA copy that can integrate into the host genome. That integration step is part of its replication, but the venomous genome inside the viral particle remains RNA, so describing HIV’s nucleic acid as DNA is incorrect. The virus does have an outer envelope, and its core contains the p24 capsid protein, which is a common diagnostic marker.