CroV enters cells via phagocytosis. Once inside the cell, the CroV capsid disassembles and the viral proteins and genome are released. CroV does not use the transcription or translation machinery of the host cell. It remains in the cytoplasm, where a “virus factory” forms and replicates independent of the host cell nucleus. The CroV genome is not integrated into the host cell genome. CroV encodes eight subunits of DNA-dependent RNA polymerase and it also encodes at least six transcription factors, which allows the DNA genome to be transcribed into mRNA without the use of the cell’s proteins. CroV can then translate the mRNAs into proteins with help of the cell's translation machine and by using its own tRNA synthetase, tRNA, and translation initiation factors to fine-tune the translation to its own advantage.
