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Medical Definition of Replicative form
1. An intermediate stage in the replication of either DNA or RNA viral genomes that is usually double stranded, the altered, double-stranded form to which single-stranded coliphage DNA is converted after infection of a susceptible bacterium, formation of the complementary ("minus") strand being mediated by enzymes that were present in the bacterium before entrance of the viral ("plus") strand. (05 Mar 2000)