Reverse transcriptase

[Patrick O'Neil]

On 5 May 1995, Webb Howell wrote:

> 
> Does the enzyme reverse transcriptase cause the action of duplicating 
> a retrovirus's RNA genome into a DNA version?  Or does a retrovirus 

Reverse transcriptase's whole purpose in life is to produce a dsDNA copy 
of a virus' RNA genome.  It has nothing to do with integration into host 
DNA.  It is also the primary source of mutation in viruses that use it - 
it has a high nucleotide misincorporation rate and no proofreading activity.

> do that on its on.  Does reverse transcriptase merely insert the DNA
> version into the DNA genome of the host cell. 

The enzyme that integrates the viral DNA into host DNA is integrase.

Patrick