Reverse transcriptase
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Being the protein that gives their name to Retroviruses, Reverse Transcriptase is, in company of Hiv protease and Hiv integrase, the most important part of the protein system involved in the process of infection of viruses like HIV-1, MuLV and AMV, and has the unusual property of transcribing ssRNA into dsDNA going against the Central Dogma of Molecular Biology. Since its discovery in 1970, the study of its properties and mechanisms of action have been of high interest among the scientific community due to the unique properties that makes it an important medical target enzyme.
Structure and Function
This Reverse Transcriptase is a RNA-dependent 2-chain DNA Polymerase has an usual length of 1000 residues (560 in chain A and 440 for B), the third of them involved in alpha helical and almost a quarter in beta sheets secondary structures. Chain A has an usual
See Also
- Molecule of the Month (09/2002) at RCSB PDB
- List of Reverse Transcriptase articles at Proteopedia and at RCSB PDB
- Reverse Transcriptase at Wikipedia
Proteopedia Page Contributors and Editors (what is this?)
Daniel Moyano-Marino, Alexander Berchansky, Eric Martz, Amol Kapoor, Lynmarie K Thompson, David Canner, Brian Foley, Jaime Prilusky, Joel L. Sussman, Michal Harel
