Reverse transcriptase is an enzyme unique to the retroviruses. Which one
of the following is a function of the enzyme reverse transcriptase?
A. DNase activity
B. RNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity
C. RNA-isomerase activity
D. RNA- dependent DNA polymerase activity
A. DNase activity
B. RNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity
C. RNA-isomerase activity
D. RNA- dependent DNA polymerase activity
Ans. D.
The replication of a retroviral genome
is dependent on the reverse transcriptase enzyme, which performs a variety of
functions. It builds a complementary strand of DNA for the viral RNA template.;
it builds a second DNA stand complementary to the previous DNA; it degrades the
original RNA, leaving a DNA-DNA duplex; and, finally, it is responsible for
integrating the new viral DNA hybrid
into the host genome.
