Before the discovery of msDNA in myxobacteria, a group of swarming, soil-dwelling bacteria, it was thought that the enzymes known as reverse transcriptases (RT) existed only in eukaryotes and viruses. The discovery led to an increase in research of the area. As a result, msDNA has been found to be widely distributed among bacteria, including various strains of Escherichia coli and pathogenic bacteria. Further research discovered similarities between HIV-encoded reverse transcriptase and an open reading frame (ORF) found in the msDNA coding region. Tests confirmed the presence of reverse transcriptase activity in crude lysates of retron-containing strains.  Although an RNase H domain was tentatively identified in the retron ORF, it was later found that the RNase H activity required for msDNA synthesis is actually supplied by the host.