[Replication process of HIV: with a central focus on the viral genome]

It has been 30 years passed since the discovery of HIVs as the agents of AIDS. During the period, many energetic research works about this gigantic menace have been performed globally and many outcomes have been applied to intercept the epidemic. Because of a brilliant progress of the therapeutic strategy, it is said that AIDS is no longer the deadly disease, but one of the mere chronic disease nowadays. On the other hand, giving an eye to the virus itself, many dark gaps are found in a superficially good-looking story of the viral replication. Thus, we are still far from fundamental understanding of the virus. In this review, I especially pick up the viral genome RNA as a central player of the story and give an introduction about various steps of viral replication. With several recent reports, I will exposit well-known and/or unclear events around virus.