Question

Most RNA viruses carry a gene for an enzyme that uses viral RNA as a template in the synthesis of more viral RNA. This enzyme is ______.

Answer 1

Most RNA viruses carry a gene for an enzyme that uses viral RNA as a template in the synthesis of more viral RNA. This enzyme is RNA replicase.

Explanation:

Most RNA viruses require RNA replicase because host cells lack the machinery to synthesise RNA directly from an RNA template. This enzyme recognises the viral RNA and uses it as a template to build complementary RNA strands, allowing the virus to replicate its genome and produce mRNA for protein synthesis. This process is distinct from normal cellular transcription, which always uses DNA as the starting template.