HIV reverse transcriptase

Patent Granted A Reverse transcriptase (RT) is an enzyme used to generate complementary DNA (cDNA) from an RNA template, a process termed reverse transcription. It is mainly associated with retrovirusses. It should be noted however that also non-retroviruses use RT (for example, the hepatitis B virus, a member of the Hepadnaviridae, which are DsDNA-RT viruses, while retroviruses are ssRNA viruses). RT inhibitors are widely used as antiretroviral drugs. RT activities are also associated with the replication of chromosome ends (telomerase) and some mobile genetic elements (retrotransposons).