Question

A patient was given an anti-retroviral drug by the doctor.

What is the role of Reverse Transcriptase and Integrase in the life cycle of a retrovirus?

Answer 1

All retroviruses and associated retrotransposons use reverse transcription to complete their life cycle. Only the retroviral reverse transcriptase (RT) enzyme is capable of carrying out this intricate process, which involves turning viral single stranded RNA into integration competent double-stranded DNA. The enzyme invertase speeds up the attack of the 3'-hydroxyl group at the ends of the processed DNA on a pair of phosphodiester bonds in the target DNA.