Retroviral Reverse Transcriptases (Molecular Biology Intelligence Unit)

Reverse transcriptase is an enzyme which is crucial in the replication of retroviruses (pathogen agents which may cause tumors, leukemias and AIDS). The structure and function of this enzyme is described with special emphasis on the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) reverse transcriptase since a multidisciplinary gigantic effort has been devoted to this enzyme because of its link with AIDS. The presence of reverse transcriptase in other animal, plant, yeast and bacterial systems is mentioned. The last part of the book is devoted to the search of specific inhibitors of the retroviral reverse transcriptase, some of which are already used in clinics against pathologies produced by these agents.