Title
The 50th anniversary of reverse transcriptase-and its ironic legacy in the time of coronavirus
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Publication Date
2020-06-11
Document Type
Editorial
Disciplines
Enzymes and Coenzymes | Immunology and Infectious Disease | Infectious Disease | Microbiology | Molecular Biology | Nucleic Acids, Nucleotides, and Nucleosides | Virus Diseases
Abstract
On June 27, 1970, back‐to‐back papers were published in Nature presenting evidence that two oncogenic viruses contain an enzymatic activity that can synthesize a DNA strand from their RNA genome. The authors soberly referred to this activity as “RNA‐dependent DNA polymerase” but an editor (most likely the playful editor‐in‐chief John Maddox) coined the term “reverse transcriptase” How these two discoveries were made, and the antecedents of each, are fascinating and, what is more, relevant to enzymology now at play in the coronavirus pandemic.
Keywords
COVID-19, coronavirus, reverse transcriptase, RNA replicase
DOI of Published Version
10.1096/fj.202001010
Source
Pederson T. The 50th anniversary of reverse transcriptase-and its ironic legacy in the time of coronavirus. FASEB J. 2020 Jun;34(6):7219-7221. doi: 10.1096/fj.202001010. PMID: 32545927. Link to article on publisher's site
Journal/Book/Conference Title
FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
Related Resources
PubMed ID
32545927
Repository Citation
Pederson T. (2020). The 50th anniversary of reverse transcriptase-and its ironic legacy in the time of coronavirus. COVID-19 Publications by UMMS Authors. https://doi.org/10.1096/fj.202001010. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/covid19/114