In the last segment of 'Intro to ERVs', I explained part of my blags tagline by talking about gag, the gene that codes for all the retroviral structural proteins. This post is going to be about the gene(s) that code for all of the enzymes a retrovirus needs: pol.
But remember how I said retroviruses only have one promoter for alllll their genes? Sometimes retroviruses dont just have a pol gene, but gag-pro-pol, or gag-pro + pol, or something silly-- lets just keep things simple and call it 'pol' :)
Pol codes for all the enzymes a retrovirus needs:
- Protease-- Chomps big proteins into all the little functional proteins, like we saw with Gag getting chomped into Matrix/Capsid/Nucleocapsid. The name 'protease' can be a little confusing because all organisms have 'proteases', but only the protease that the retrovirus carries with it is the 'right' protease to cleave in all the 'right' spots to get all the 'right' proteins in the end. Instead of giving retroviral proteases a special name, they just named it 'Protease'. heh. Protease inhibitors are a great target for anti-retrovirals.
- Reverse Transcriptase-- Another target for anti-retrovirals. Though the process of reverse transcription can be found in you and I (coooool), retroviruses need to carry an enzyme with them to convert viral RNA into DNA on demand. This process not only requires converting an RNA genome into a DNA genome, but also:
- RNase H-- The RT enzyme has (at least) two active sites. One performs the process of reverse transcription. Another active site has RNase activity (chops up RNA, specifically, RNA Hybridized with DNA haha!). RNase H chews up the old RNA template after a single strand of DNA has been made, so the single strand of DNA can be made into double stranded DNA, and subsequently inserted into the host cells genome.
This might make more sense if you see this animation. *might* The process of reverse transcription is rather absurd.
- Integrase-- Host cells dont come packed with the necessary biochemical machinery to move DNA out of the cytoplasm into the nucleus, to be inserted into the host DNA. So once again, retroviruses need to bring an enzyme capable of performing those activities. Integrase should be a perfect target for antiretrovirals... But we havent figured any out yet...
Okay, so weve got all the structural proteins. Weve got all the enzymatic proteins. What else does a retrovirus need?
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This is seriously cool stuff.
Clever! The movie was a tad fast, though. I couldn't read the comments in full.
<goes wikipeeking>
Cool shit!
So you take a peace of RNA, then a protein puts half of a DNA strand on the other side, and then you have an enzyme crawl along pull off the RNA and then you have another protein come along and put the other side of the DNA on. And the DNA is at this point in the Cytoplasm? Who engineered this system.... oh wait.
Seriously thank you for blogging on this stuff I think explaining these convoluted systems that get the job done is the key to convincing the rational creationists that no designer would ever create life the way it is on earth.
Backpacker-- Its all the same protein! The same protein does all three of those steps, kinda at the same time (that animation is linear, but think of it more as a loop). Eeeak its a weird process!
I did not see the animation becase I am at work, and should be toiling. But I did not get that the prosess is all one protien, biology is so cool.
I have a suspicion that this series is going to make it a bit easier to wait the 3-4 semesters ::sigh:: until I can take virology
Thanks ERV! And let it be known you are my only other idol besides Einstein :-) (for when I become famous for using retrovirii to create cool new phenotypes in living humans)
Time for a minor update. We do have a couple of functional integrase inhibitors now, at least for HIV.
I was just about to say the same thing as Paul!
Yay for progress!