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Through sophisticated molecular sleuthing a group of scientists from Harvard and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has shown for the first time just how nimble the HIV enzyme reverse transcriptase (RT) really is, according to a report by ScienceDaily.
RT is the protein responsible for processing HIV’s genetic RNA material, first by converting it to a single strand of DNA, and then into a double strand of DNA. This much has been well understood, but Xiaowei Zhuang at Harvard and Stuart Le Grice at NCI led a team that showed for the first time, at the molecular level, how the RT enzyme is able to literally flip back and forth in its handling of RNA and DNA.
Zhuang and Le Grice were also able to demonstrate in greater detail than before how antiretroviral (ARV) drugs that target the RT enzyme cause it to flip back and forth more rapidly, making the enzyme less effective.
