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Reverse Transcriptase

In biochemistry, a reverse transcriptase is a DNA polymerase enzyme whose function is to transcribe single stranded RNA into double stranded DNA. A reverse transcriptase is also known as an RNA directed DNA polymerase. With regards to the process, normal transcription involves the synthesis of RNA from DNA. Thus, reverse transcription is the exact opposite of this process – involving the synthesis of DNA from RNA.

Howard Temin of the University of Wisconsin discovered reverse transcriptase. But it was also independently discovered by David Baltimore at about the same time. The two scientists shared the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along with Renato Dulbecco for this important discovery.

Among the more commonly used examples of reverse transcriptase are:

HIV – 1 is a reverse transcriptase from the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (PDB 1HMV)

M – MLV is a reverse transcriptase that is from the Moloney murine leukemia virus

AMV is reverse transcriptase from the avian myeloblastosis virus

Telomerase is a reverse transcriptase that has the function of maintaining the telomeres of eukaryotic chromosomes.

The structure of reverse transcriptase enzymes include an RNA dependent DNA polymerase along with a DNA dependent DNA polymerase. These two work in tandem to perform transcription. Aside from the transcription function retroviral reverse transcriptase also operates in an area that belongs to the RNase H family that is quite vital to their replication.

Web Resources On Reverse Transcriptase

Reverse Transcriptases
Retroviruses

Book Resources On Reverse Transcriptase

Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors In Aids therapy by Infectious Disease and Therapy
Reverse Transcriptase by A. M. Skalka, Stephen P. Goff

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